Posted February 22nd, 2003 by Sean Williams

The best kind of car accident to get in is the one where the cars all do what they are supposed to and no cars touch each other. On the way home last night, we were almost to our exit and a small sports car came flying sideways right at the front of our car. I hit the brakes and steered into the direction of the other car’s skid and it seemed that the front of both cars locked up as we slid in to the snow bank on the side of the Northern Parkway.

I never heard contact and the feeling was more like the ABS kicking in (which sucks because I was, uselessly, frantically pumping the brakes). We both pulled to the side of the road and a short guy from Rhode Island got out of his car and we wandered around looking for damage. I thought I could see where my bumper hit the side of his car, but it also looked like I had rubbed against a snow bank on Long Island somewhere, and there was not a scratch on his car.

He said it was because he prayed every morning. I saw that he had a really young lady in the passenger seat and a baby in the back and the car was full of balloons. We traded phone numbers, just as a precaution, and I went back and sat in the car with Jordana as that poor dude tried desperately to get his girl to calm down.

I was definitely scared, but it was going pretty slow and it was all fine. I was thinking that if I had died or if anything had happened, a mere two days after I did a new age-y thing and set myself up with five goals to complete before the end of May, it would have really pissed me off. Strangely, my thoughts did wander to magical realism for a moment (Jordana in the car is why we weren’t hit0, but actually I just realized that good, safe, new cars are better at avoiding accidents. I never once thought to God. I did thank the other dude for praying and we hugged each other.