the beats

On Saturday afternoon I was crossing a quiet, mostly residential street in the East Village while talking to Carrie over my shoulder, when suddenly she started screaming, "ohmygod, look out, look out!"

I looked to my left only to see a car backing up just two inches away from me. Time slowed for a split second as I simultaneously realized that the driver didn't see me, that I couldn't move because my bike was on my right, and that I was about to be hit by a car.

Sure enough, the car kept backing up, knocking me down and in what seemed like forever, stopping just short of running me over.

Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by people, including the driver, all looking down on poor, stunned, injured me.

Everybody was freaking out except Carrie who was uncharacteristically mute. I remember thinking, "Why isn't she saying anything?" since I knew she was standing at my head. Later I found out that she was so shocked and shaken up that she just couldn't speak.

An ambulance was called, and I was finally allowed to get up and confirm that nothing was broken. I toyed with the idea of lying about my age to the EMT's (just because I do it so frequently) and was frightened they would ask to see my ass which was feeling really sore (and sure enough is bruised in a horrid black and black) because, people, in case this has eluded you, I am fat, fat, fat. In short, in no condition to be showing my ass in public.

I declined to go to the hospital because I hadn't hit my head and could feel nothing was broken. Eventually, I got up and slowly walked to Starbucks where I met C to tell him about my accident.

He consoled me then rushed back to midtown for his evening show. Carrie and I walked around in shock the rest of the evening, feeling traumatized as hell.

For the last few days I've felt very fragile, overly cautious and very sore. I have, as mentioned, the bruised ass, but also bruised ribs, leg and arm. Otherwise, so far so good.

Oh, and the good news, Carrie heard the trendy woman who called the ambulance say that "a woman in her 20's was hit by a car". There really is a silver lining to every cloud I guess.