Sarah's accident happened on her way home from class. Some guy in a
Jeep ran a stoplight and slammed into the side of her bright yellow
Toyota. It spun it around and left a hole too big for her to drive it home and, subsequently, the
insurance company, to fix. It also broke her left wrist, which she had tried to use to brace herself when she realized that the impact was coming. She described all of this to me over the phone, the day after the accident. Sarah is a very practical,
no nonsense type of girl.
" It was so scary and so fast. None of that slow motion stuff like you read about it. It was super fast-DAMN FAST. It threw me around like a rag doll, I was bouncing off the car door and I broke like a cheap Barbie. "
That gave me the idea, of course. I went to a grocery store and bought her a mylar ballon then ran across the street to the Target. Made a quick run down the Toy aisle for some white Play doh and then a spunky girl doll. (And no, they do not make a Victim of Hit n' run Barbie. Yet.)
Sitting in the parking lot, I was able to construct Sarah's gift relatively quickly (I made sure to buy a girl with a short sleeves). Bright green shorts and top (matching heels, of course) and a large white cast on her left arm. Sarah laughed a bunch. Later, she tied the balloon around a kitchen chair and sat little wounded one on the counter.
"I feel better knowing she's around," she said, mock serious. "But don't make me promise not to stick pins in her if this cast starts itching."
Little hit n' run just smiled. What a trooper.
*title/inspiration from arcanamundi