Let’s start with the good news: Diane is OK, just shaken and a bit sore.
I was supposed to make dinner tonight (my variation on “How to Boil Water”‘s chicken stir-fry recipe), but I didn’t get out of the office on time because I was having too much fun fighting a technical problem. So when my phone rang at 6:12, I wasn’t surprised to hear Diane, nor was I surprised when she asked where I was.
The next thing she said did surprise me, though: she was at the Y, and had been in an accident, was OK, but wasn’t sure she could drive the car home. I asked if she wanted me to pick Jeff up on my way, but she asked me to come directly to the Y, so I did. I suggested she call the police, too, in case there was more than $750 worth of damage.
There was. When I got to the Y, I saw her car parked, with the driver’s side door badly bent in. Diane was on the sidewalk, talking with one of the cops. I parked and came over and saw the rest of the damage (I didn’t think to use my cameraphone to take a picture) — there was no way that anyone was driving the car any time soon.
The police had called AAA, who showed up just as they were finishing taking the reports, so we took out stuff from the car (things like CDs, minus the one that was stuck in the player) and headed home to call the insurance agent.
With any luck, we’ll hear from the insurance company on Monday (but they said it might not be that quickly); in the meantime, we’ll go rent a replacement car to tide us over for a bit. I don’t know if they’ll choose to fix the car or not; if not, I guess we’ll get on line for another Prius. This one stood up to a Chevy Tahoe and kept Diane safe, which is all I can ask of a car.