Saturday's Unexpected Phone Call

Saturday at the shop was a zoo - bouncing between customers, trying to work on packaging some of the new items that had arrived on Friday, and, of course, answering phone calls. In the middle of all that, I got a phone call from Claire, Chickie's Mom. She was quite upset, not really making a lot of sense, and there were voices in the background.

Claire's car went into the side of the car running the red light in front of
her. A driver in a car passing on the other side stayed and gave a full
report to the police. Claire had the right of way and the green light.
That's her bumper on the sidewalk near the mail box, her bumper bar
has been pushed into her radiator. The liquid at curbside is all of the
liquid that had been in the radiator and the wheel wells are scraping
against the tires. It's probably toast, and she'll get a pittance for the
value because it's quite old. 

She said she had been in a car accident but that she was OK. She didn't get a lot more said before the phone was taken over by the paramedic who was seeing her. He said that there had been an accident and that, although she was shaken up, she appeared to be all right. He gave me the address where this had happened and I told him I wasn't a family member, just a good friend, but that I would try to get in touch with her daughter. After hanging up my cell phone, I speed dialed her daughter, told her about Claire, and she said she'd head over there immediately.

I got periodic updates through the day, and at the end of the day Chickie popped in to give me an in-person update. Apparently as Claire was going north on a major street, a man in a car heading west on the cross street turned left in front of her, ignoring the red light for his direction at the intersection. She hit directly into him.

Although Claire seemed to be fine and refused to go to the hospital or clinic with the paramedics, she was certainly shaken up. She has rheumatoid arthritis, so movement can be difficult for her some times and there is pain. A car accident was NOT what she needed. After the car was put onto the tow truck, Chickie took Claire to the nearby Urgent Care facility for a checkup. The doctor there said she appeared to be all right, although he was concerned about her knee which had cracked against the underside of the dashboard quite hard. He prescribed some pain pills and some muscle relaxants, and advised her to come in again if there was excessive pain.

I didn't hear anything over the remainder of the weekend, so hope that everything is OK with Claire now. Car accidents are such frightening things. I've been in a few and usually not for the better. I'm hoping that a few sore muscles and a trashed car (unfortunately, I fear Claire's car is beyond fixing), will be as bad as this accident will get.

Have a great Monday. I'm off to the WBL YMCA pool today, and then the Chiropractor before heading to breakfast and work. At least this week I'll finally get my Wednesday off. I desperately need it! Enjoy your day!