“Doesn’t appear to be too much damage to either car. You two are lucky!”
“You have no idea,” Adam responded, turning full-on toward the woman he'd just rear-ended.
The tow-truck driver waved goodbye to the police officer pulling away and then turned back to
Adam. “Yeah, you should have seen the wreck I hauled off earlier this morning. That driver wasn't
so lucky,” he said while swiping Adam's card through one of those cell phone credit card swipe
contraptions.
A moment later, after the payment portion of this morning's serendipitous event was completed, Adam thanked the driver, said his goodbye, and turned to walk back over to the woman’s car, where she'd returned to.
One minor ordeal over, now onto the big one.
Adam could hear the tow truck driver behind him radio headquarters that he was on his way back to the shop. He listened to the door of the cab shut and the engine turnover, followed two seconds later by a few backup beeps, the sound of each corresponding with each of Adam's steps.
A mix of old and new technologies; cellphones, credit card swipe devices, and an old-time CB radio. Too bad everything didn't mix as easily, he thought while observing the rainbow swirls of oil on the surface of the puddle spread out on the pavement before him. Like a carefree child having fun, and still in tune with the backup beeps, Adam's foot landed square in the middle of the puddle, splashing both oil and water to the sides. Adam smiled at the likelihood that he and the women in yellow wouldn't be anything like oil and water, but more like chocolate fudge on vanilla ice cream.
Adam anticipated that it would be a whole lot of fun finding out.
Though the woman he'd hit had returned to her car to sit down, she'd left her door open. Adam approached, rested his forearm on the roof, and leaned in to speak to her. He expressed his apologies for the accident once again, and his thankfulness the rain had stopped a few minutes earlier, and finally, suggesting he would follow her over to the coffee place.
She raised her eyebrows. “Um, I don't think so! I don't want you behind me,” she said, keeping a straight face and with a slight side to side motion of her head. “I'll follow you!”
The response on Adam's face suggested he saw her point.
The Heavenly Bean was a short distance down the boulevard, and Adam was glad he'd suggested they meet there despite his personal belief the chain was a bit pompous and far from Heavenly. He gave it two stars, and that was pushing it. Feelings aside, it was an adequate place for coffee, and doubly superior to that, as an excellent place to dry out. And, it was as right a place as any to discuss insurance issues, and, well, whatever else came up.
The woman, formerly in yellow, pulled out behind Adam and followed him. On the way, both of them, independent of each other’s knowledge, had placed a call into work to report their traffic accident and consequently to expect late arrivals, if arriving at all, Adam added to his report.
