Right after Hallie got home from her mission, she was working through the adjustment to normal life again. One evening, she decided she was going to meet me at the high school volleyball playoff game, so she and Cannon ventured out in the car she hadn’t driven in a year and a half.
I was waiting for her in the high school parking lot when, less than a mile from the school, she was stopped at a red light and got rear-ended. And not just a little bump. The other car hit her hard enough that all of its airbags deployed.
Since I was so close, I arrived at the scene within minutes. I found Hallie and Cannon standing on the side of the road, completely calm and thankfully uninjured. The driver of the other car, however, was understandably frantic. Her hand was pretty mangled, and I suspect the combination of the crash and the airbags left her in shock.
She told us her brakes weren’t working properly, which I suppose is possible, but it didn’t seem plausible. Hallie and Cannon had noticed something else: there had been two additional people in the car, and immediately after the crash they took off running. The driver later admitted she wasn’t supposed to be with them, so they fled to avoid getting into trouble.
Also not a great look – Hallie is confident the girl wasn’t the one driving. It was her car and she was the only one who stuck around at the scene and took ownership for the accident…but she wasn’t behind the wheel.
The police didn’t seem particularly interested in sorting that out. After keeping us there for nearly two hours, they handed us our paperwork, and told us insurance would figure it out. (Their insurance has been great and the very first phone call we got from them was, “Obviously, this was our insured driver’s fault so we’ll take care of your car.”)
We missed the volleyball game. Apparently, it was the best match of the entire season. We were so close to the gym that we could practically hear the crowd cheering while we stood on the side of the road waiting for police reports.
Thankfully, cars can be repaired and Hallie and Cannon walked away completely unharmed, especially after being hit at a decent speed. It just wasn’t the welcome home Hallie was hoping for.
