A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
The other day I made a trip to my favorite giant retail store to replenish a few food items and recharge the gift card I use to buy gas. As I pulled into the parking lot to look for a parking space, I noticed a Fire truck idling off to the side. I often see emergency vehicles of all types at this store, since many of our community’s senior citizens frequent it. I found a parking space, went in and quickly picked up the few things I needed, recharged my gift card, and headed back to my car. As I was pulling out of my parking space, I noticed what appeared to be quite a bit of smoke coming from under a car in the next row of parking spaces. The way the wind was blowing, it looked like it was coming out from under the back of the car. I thought, “I wonder if that guy knows how bad his car needs an overhaul? That car sure burns a lot of oil.”
The closer I got, the thicker the smoke coming from the car got. Then the wind shifted slightly, and now I could see the smoke coming from under the car was also boiling out from under the hood and not the tailpipe. I saw a lady standing behind the car, waving her hands franticly, and looking in all directions for help. I whipped around a line of cars waiting for traffic to move, and headed for the fire truck. As I pulled up alongside the fire truck, I saw one of the firemen coming around from the back of the vehicle and I waved him over to notify him of the fire. He told me he had just seen the smoke, and was on the way to investigate the situation. Before I could turn my car around and leave the parking lot, the fire truck was rolling up to the smoking car with its siren blaring. I didn’t have time to hang around to see how long it took the fire department to get the fire out, but I’m sure it wasn’t long.
I thought to myself as I drove home, “If you have to have an automobile fire in a retailer’s parking lot, how lucky can you be to have the Fire Department already there, and ready to come to your rescue?”
Old Things R New 