Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

There's a particular sound, or very short sequence of sounds, that signals "automobile crash". A peculiar crunch that one learns to recognize as glass breaking while metal crumples even if it happens too quickly to recognize the components.

And then there are the car crashes that sound like explosions instead.

BOOM!

"Somebody call the police! Somebody call the police!"

[running footsteps]

-- Siren --

[horn blowing continuously]

All of that happened in just about as long as it took you to read it just now. By the time I got from the kitchen to the front of the house to look, an ambulance was already sitting there with its lights flashing and doors open; a fire truck arrived a few minutes later, and the police well after that. All I can figure is that the ambulance must have just happened to drive within sight of the crash, maybe two or three blocks away on either Fulton or Lombard, just as the crash happened. The siren came on too quickly for the ambulance to have been alerted by radio. A lucky break for someone, I guess.

(One car is crunched amidships on the starboard side, the other is shortened somewhat and has its front bumper ripped nearly off. My best guess is that one car was going west on Lombard at well over the speed limit and the other was going north on Fulton (maybe speeding, maybe not), and one of 'em ran the light. But that's just my impression from where they landed and the damage and the sound; I don't really know what I'm talking about.)