Retrospect. I have a kink in my neck -- the kind that strong-arms you into keeping your chin perfectly level. I never get neck cramps... but today...

It's only been three hours since I was sitting in this same spot, at my computer desk, importing my Mom's wedding footage for Final Cut Pro, Amanda behind me, slipping on her shoes as she waits for me to take her to work. I can see myself running into the bedroom quickly to grab my wallet from off the bedside cabinet. I go to grab the keys from the wall rack, but they're not there -- so I decide not to lock the door behind me.

My sandals are in the car, so I hurry down the stairs barefoot. Pulling out of our apartment's driveway has always been risky, for one it's just an alley way running between two road-hugging buildings, but the real problem is the line of cars parked bumper to bumper on either side of the street. I rely on my ears more so than my eyes when inching out into the road.

Magnolia is usually heavy with traffic around six, and half the lights on the way to work seemed perfectly timed to keep you waiting at every block. I can see myself rolling down the window as Amanda holds up her work socks. There I am stopped next to the car wash... everyone starts to pull forward... then stops quickly, I get a strange feeling and look in my rearview mirror but it's okay, the car behind me is at a stop. A second goes by, and Amanda starts to say something --

It almost seemed as if it never "happened", but that it just "just happened", like everything skipped forward a second and I had to fill in the blanks. I heard a loud hollow thump -- but there was too much time in-between the sound and the jolt. My foots still on the brake... Amanda is holding her head. We've been rear ended... we don't have insurance... cars in the right lane speed back up with traffic as we sit there. Shit.

Apparently the red sports car saw everyone start to speed up... but didn't see them slow to a stop again... and he smashed hard into the car behind us, and then that car gave us a hard shove. We pulled over behind the car wash, and looked at the damage... but we had none [most importantly... we had no insurance... yes I know, I know... We're working on getting that switched over]. The poor bastard who got sandwiched looked out his window and said to me, "you got lucky,,,". I said, "ya know... I'm late for work... and...". He couldn't have cared less about my staying there, he waved for me to take off and started to meet the driver in the red car.

It's strange to think that if I would have not bothered grabbing my wallet, my neck might not be so damned kinked. Or maybe if I hadn't grabbed my wallet, we would have been the car in the middle, that would have been a really bad day [and a much worse neck cramp].