Crash

Well, well, it's been a little while since I've written you, dear friend, but in any case, let us put those times behind us, because here is a missive, just for you!

I don't think I have changed very much since I wrote last, but my face has had some changes. That is to say, my teeth are in different places than they were a month ago. It all started with a craigslist posting...

I was in Portland, oh yes, for my Aunt Dori's fabulous 50th birthday party, with a Red theme. I disappointed my father by not dressing up as a Russian Communist, but I showed up wearing my red "Olympic National Park" T-Shirt. Everyone was wearing red, people wrote poems about red, songs about red, made red altars. You should always be suspicious when someone comes to an event wearing red; it's rather convenient that your blood-stains won't show up on your clothing.

In any case, I got a call Sat. night, or perhaps Sunday morning, and my traveler Annie Rose and I planned to convene at around ten in the morning. I got to her house around 10:30, as she was finishing up her chores, ready to leave the house. Annie Rose makes re-usable menstrual pads for a living, called "Moon Pads," and she was heading to a convention in Seattle to show them off at a co-op-style trade show of sorts.We drove to Olympia, a two hour drive, just in time for a shift I had cashiering at the Olympia Food Co-op, and I let her borrow my car so that she would make it to some of the convention. Since she was flying out of Seattle that night, there were two options on the table: either she drive my car back down to Olympia and I drive her to the airport, or I find a friend to drive my car down to Olympia from Seattle that evening. My Olympia-bound friend from Seattle didn't manifest themselves, so we defaulted to option (a), she drove back down to Oly.

My friend Lucy was moving from a house on the east side of town to one on the west side, and she had enlisted my help for her move. Since Annie Rose was hanging out with me for awhile, she willingly joined along, and we were able to move everything in just one trip, using two cars.

Her flight was a little after 1 am, so we left Olympia around 10:45 or so. It was dark out (of course!), and raining steadily when we left, and we set off towards the airport. It was difficult to see out the windshield because of how much rain was pelting us.

When we got to Tacoma, we talked about the Tacoma Dome, and as we came around the bend "LOOK OUT!"I slammed on the brakes, and the brake lights of the cars in front of me zoomed in until our car was contorting itself into a piece of twisted steel alongside another car. The windshield and everything else came just a little bit closer, and smashed. The next thing I remember is the blood dripping from my head, most notably my mouth, face, nose, chin, onto my clothing. "Cool," I thought. Not really. I counted my teeth. Again. Yep, they're all there. Not all in the right place, but all there."Are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm okay," Annie Rose and I echoed at each other a few times. What's wrong with you? "Mostly my mouth," I said. "My back hurts," she said. The EMTs were there within a minute or two. They were able to open her door, but not mine. They kept checking in with us, assessing our wounds, and eventually got her out on a stretcher. They tried to use a compression jack to take my door off, but I was like, "Dude, I can go out the other door." I wasn't particularly interested in having car shards fall on me. I gathered up the important stuff... Annie Rose's shoes, my jacket and hat, and I eventually found my cell phone and wallet. Outside the car, a police officer questioned me, asked me why I wasn't able to stop before hitting the car in front of me while the other cars were able to stop. I muttered something about not having good brakes.It wasn't until I was in the back of the ambulance that I realized I didn't have my glasses. I asked the EMTs and police officer to help me find them, but they were unwilling.

Okay, that's part one, I'll finish the story sometime soon.Peace y'all- Jake