Too Close For Comfort

One of my coworkers was on her way to pick up her son from work late Friday night. It was raining and traffic was creeping along in the Newhall pass when suddenly, there was a loud boom. The ground shook slightly. Another boom quickly followed. Traffic came to a halt.

She looked in the direction of the noise and saw trucks going in a tunnel. The booms and shaking continued. She couldn't imagine what was going on. A red passenger car with a kid in the back seat drove in the tunnel and a few seconds later, fire exploded out of the tunnel opening. The fire was about a hundred feet high and my coworker could feel the heat. She did what anyone would do; she got out of her car and ran in the opposite direction. The other people on the road did the same.

There was no hope of helping the people in the tunnel. The heat and flames were overwhelming. Someone in the car next to hers ran and left one of her kids behind. My coworker grabbed the kid and carried him. Once everyone ran what felt like a safe distance, they huddled together in the rain and cried.

It wasn't long before the fire department arrived and started yelling at everyone to get back in their cars. The fire department's concern was that the tunnel was going to collapse due to the weight of all of the cars parked on top of it and they wanted everyone to move their cars, now.

If I had been there and given that piece of information about the tunnel collapsing, I think I would have tossed them my keys and said, "You move my car." My coworker was shaking so badly she had trouble getting the key in the ignition, but eventually, she was able to make a U turn and drive back on the wrong side of the road. The entire time, she was expecting the ground to collapse beneath her car and drop her into the inferno.

Because you're hearing her story, you know that she got home safely. By the time she picked up her son and got home, though, it was six in the morning. The drive took an extra five hours.

I'm not looking forward to trying to get to the Valley over the next few days, but at least I wasn't in the tunnel or anywhere near the tunnel when the accidents happened. When bad things happen, I like to think about others who have it worse to keep things in perspective.

But, on the other hand, I'm in the middle of planting my Fall garden and my nursery is along the detour route. Not wanting to get caught in that jam, I can't get the plants I need until the freeway opens, but the plants need to go into the ground now. I could go to other nurseries, but they don't have the plants in the color I want. Is it too much to ask for white, tall snapdragons? I don't want mixed colors. I want white and I want them tall. Woe is me. If it's not one thing, it's another.