Woke up this morning

Erik and I were jolted awake shortly before 1 this morning by a very loud, horrible, drawn-out noise. I’ve never heard anything like it. My first thought, coming into consciousness, was that it was a gunfight, even though it didn’t sound at all like shots. I think it was the way the sound reverberated, and the fact that most car accidents on this street sound like “screee— WHAM!” Jason told us later that his first thought was that a truck was driving down Hollywood Blvd without its wheels, which is close to what Erik thought it was, and gives a good description of what the sound was like. We lay there with our hearts pounding, and heard indistinguishable voices, and Jason’s footsteps running down the stairs and outside. We stayed inside, and peeked out the window and listened to the sirens and people’s voices, and tried to figure out what might be happening. Much later, after the sirens were long gone but the low hum of the tow truck remained, we heard laughter, and figured everything must be as all right as it could be. We went back to bed, and just before I fell asleep, I heard Jason come back in and go upstairs. We later found out that that was about 1:45.

Around 10 this morning, after Erik and I had both gotten up for the second time, but were not yet both dressed, Jason came downstairs in his bathrobe and filled us in on what had happened. An SUV had been driving too fast and had tried to pass another car. The SUV driver lost control and his car overturned, and it skidded down Hollywood on its roof for more than a block, from Curson to Courtney. It left debris all down the street, and hit a parked car whose driver had only one minute before impact gotten out and walked to the sidewalk. The SUV had come to a stop on Courtney, and though the ambulance took one of the passengers away, it seemed like both passengers and the driver would all be all right. The police closed down the street, and the tow truck had some difficulty getting the SUV back right-side up, but all in all it seemed that there wasn’t as much harm done as the sound that woke us all seemed to indicate.