I hit a parked truck yesterday

Yep. That's right. And, to be perfectly honest, it's not the first time I've done such a thing. And it scared the #@$% out of me.

I was backing out of our driveway, and a truck was parked across the street, on the road, in front of a house. The truck was facing the wrong way to be parked on the street, but apparently, according to the jerk of a trooper who came out, that doesn't matter if you're in a neighborhood. It matters everywhere else, for some reason.

I was on the way to meet my mom for lunch with Audrey, and I definitely looked when I backed out. I really did! I'm not going to blame the car seat, but it was the car seat's fault. We have the Safety 1st Complete Air seat; it's black, and it sticks up over the seat (I'm sure most convertible car seats do). Anyway, the truck was a dark blue, almost black color, and I think the two mixed together in my field of vision.

All I know is that I heard a sickening crunch. And my heart sank to my feet. At first, I thought I hit a mailbox. Then I looked in my rearview mirror, and I saw it. CRAP. Our driveway slopes down a little, so I clearly didn't see it earlier. But by the time I got in the road, of course I could.

I didn't know what to do. I'm usually pretty clear-minded in an emergency (at least I was before FMS lifted its ugly head), but I think I was in shock. All I could think about was protecting Audrey. I knew she wasn't hurt, since we barely made impact. Of course, from looking at the truck, you'd think I hit it harder than I did.

See the back quarter panel?

But all I could think was, somebody's going to come out of that house (I assumed a guy, since it was a truck...sexist, right?) and freak out on me. I was really afraid that someone would hurt Audrey or me, thus leaving Audrey defenseless. Why did I feel this way?

For one reason, I watch too many crime shows. For another, the three houses across the street from us have been rental properties for the entire time I've lived here. As a result, people move in, you rarely see them, then they move out again. I think a lot of them probably skip out on their rent, since they're here one day, gone the next. So I never get to know them.

Anyway, no one came out, and I called the police. I had to get Audrey in the house, because she really needed a bottle at this point. And when I came back outside, the truck was gone! People asked if I left a note, but it truly never occurred to me that this person would leave before the police got there. I was too busy taking care of Audrey.

Obviously, when the trooper showed up, he couldn't do anything without a second car. He said if the truck never came back (we'd never seen it before), there would be nothing we could do.

But when we got home from my massage last night, the truck was looming large across the street. DOUBLE CRAP. Since I had to bathe Audrey and get her into bed, Matt had to go over there by himself.

The neighbors are Hispanic, and Matt said the woman couldn't understand what he was saying. She kept saying, "La policia! La policia!" And then she got in the truck, drove down the street, turned around, and came back and parked in her yard. Matt thinks that she understood him to say that he wanted her to move the truck so I wouldn't back into it. Too little, too late!

We couldn't help but giggle about the experience when Matt came back. He said he'd never heard anyone say "La policia!" so much. He ended up talking to her husband on the phone, and they figured things out. The poor woman didn't even know the truck had been hit.

What a day. Thank God Audrey wasn't hurt, and that no one was in the truck when I hit it. I guess I'll be backing into the driveway from now on.