Monday, December 22, 2008

The Traveller Leaves Emptyhanded - Part 2

After a few minutes of heaving and pulling with brute force, the guys managed to simply peel the rear passenger door off the car body. One of them climbed inside and twisted the seat forward, freeing the injured girl, and gently passed her up to waiting hands on the outside. All the while I was monitering the engine, making sure the fire didn't come back to life.

Finally, she was carried to the shoulder and laid down on a blanket provided by a nurse who had stopped to help. She was barely conscious, but breathing, as far as I knew. The fire had spurted back to life, which I allowed to burn up a bit for a few minutes before putting out with the last of the contents of my extinguisher.

"I really thought that it would blow up, like on TV, or something like that" It was the second gentleman; "How did you know it wouldn't have done that?" He asked me.

"Because thats TV for you, they gotta make it exciting" I replied "Besides, this isn't the first car fire I have had to put out....Don't ask, if thats okay."

He nodded, but didn't reply. About this time, I heard sirens, and the ambulance arrived, followed by a local volunteer fire crew with a pumper truck and a rescue vehicle, and last, the OPP. The car fire had decided to burn back up again, and by the time the fire crew had gotten everything together, much of the car was being consumed. Ten seconds with the big hose and the show was over.

After waiting for the OPP to take statements from gentlemen numbers one and two, I finally gave mine, and roughly 90 minutes after the incident, I crossed the highway again, to Katherine, who had been waiting patiently in the van with Rudi.

"I guess thats why I stop" I said, as I started the van, pulled onto the road, and headed, albeit rather late now, for home. As I looked back to the left, to the scene, The OPP cruiser was still there, along with a couple of other vehicles, and a tow truck was on the shoulder, winching the car out of the ditch. And I can't tell for sure, but I thought I may have glimpsed him, a tall man, dressed in black, stepping back into his car, and driving away emptyhanded.

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