LIME GREEN HAT

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I drove my car slowly through the intersection, trying to avoid the debris that was strewn all over the road. A police officer had just arrived and was making her way to the other car, which managed to become stranded on the sidewalk, facing the wrong way. A black Cavalier sat just across the intersection, its front end heavily damaged. A lady was sitting in the passenger seat of the first vehicle, a maroon coloured Sunfire, and was being consoled by a younger lady. The Sunfire also sustained heavy damage to its front end. I speculate that one car was making a turn, while the other coming head on, did not. What impressed upon me was that both front air bags in both vehicles had deployed, its limp forms now draped out like neglected balloons. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any injuries. A little boy wearing a lime green hat was walking on the sidewalk with an older man, someone who could be his grandfather. Perhaps they were making their way to the Mac's across the street, in search of a refreshing Frostee to beat back the scorching day. Perhaps they were heading to the park just down the road past the church. Whatever the destination, the boy was excited. But this excitement turned to wonder and then apprehension as they reached this particular intersection. It may be an intersection that this boy with the lime green hat has crossed many times before, but today was different. And perhaps this little boy, like most little boys, has a set of miniature cars at home and has had many hours of glee driving them on the home's well worn carpet. And, as most young boys with little cars do, he immerses himself in a world where he drives the different cars to their unknown destinations. The cars arrive separately or as a caravan. It doesn't matter, because each iteration is different, a different destination, a different purpose. Perhaps one time, the little boy decides that it is more exciting for the cars to crash into each other; why does scaled down carnage bring such joy to little boys? But today, it's different. What he sees are not his toy miniatures crashing into each other. He has seen what happens when big cars crash; they don't just bounce off each other. Big cars break into lots of pieces when they crash. And people get hurt. So, the little boy in the lime green hat, grasps his grandfather's hand just a little bit tighter as he takes one more glance at the lady being consoled by another lady, as the police officer approaches. And in a world where tragedy can only be easily erased through the eyes of child, he sets his sights back on where he was going.