My fourth 911 call

Last week, after going the farmers market, several of us went to my friend Kim's house, where we picked blackberries to make a pie (but instead ended up eating them with ice cream) and played Karaoke, etc. At about 12:30 a.m. everyone was heading home, and as I still lack a drivers license (soon, I promise!), I was biking home. The bike ride from Kim's house to mine takes about 45 minutes to an hour I would guess, and of course it was dark by that point, so others, as they so often do, started worrying about my safety. After many minutes of assuring people I would be safe and that I had done this many times, I finally agreed to call Kim when I got home. If I was not home by 3 a.m. she would call me. I was stopping by Charlotte's, who had just finished packing and was leaving for Chile in the morning, on the way home to say goodbye, hence the extra time.

After leaving Charlotte's, I was biking past Cactus Corner, an intersection about a mile from my house, when I saw a small red car, completely engulfed in flame so dense I could not see if anyone was inside. Of course I immediately dropped my bike and called 911. The car's horn started honking as I was on the phone, as (I would guess) wires melted and connected, but at the time I didn't know if it was someone in the car signaling for help or not. Parts started exploding, the car jolting this way and that and settling down again as tires blew out from the heat. Eventually I heard sirens and the air horn of the Yolo county volunteer fire department calling people in. A police car pulled up, asking if it was my car and telling me to back off (I was already staying a pretty far distance away because of the explosions, etc.), and then several more police cars and fire trucks. The firemen took their time getting hoses out and putting out the fire, and when I called in this week asking if they had figured out the cause of the fire, they told me the car was too burnt to discern anything. The weirdest thing about it, was that throughout this whole ordeal there was absolutely no one around; just some sheep watching from the far side of their enclosure. Needless to say, I got home slightly later than I had expected, but still long before 3:00, so there was no worry on the other end when I called Kim as promised. It was ironic that all this would happen after so much assurance to everyone that my ride home would be without incident.