Fender Bender

As I was leaving the parking lot in Cerritos Town Center, the signal changed, and I had to make a quick stop before turning onto Bloomfield. The car behind rear-ended me.

As soon as the signal changed, I pulled over to the right and stopped, leaving ample space for that car to pull in behind me so that we could exchange insurance information, etc.

He didn’t pull in behind me; he sped off in the direction of the 91 Freeway, and I was so angry that I followed him, putting “metal to the pedal!” I wanted to get close enough to get the license plate number. I made it to the 91 on-ramp and saw him zig-zagging from one lane to another in the traffic ahead of me. I suddenly came to my senses, reminding myself that I was 79 years old, and the recklessness of the situation wasn’t worth causing harm to myself or anyone else.

I didn’t give up though until I determined it was a late-model black Lexus with tinted windows, and I had at least memorized the first three numbers of the license. As I headed to the Cerritos Sheriff’s Station, I was optimistic that the police could do something with what little information I was able to glean.

Here I was in my little 2002 Toyota Corolla on a high-speed chase of a newer model black Lexus. My thoughts ranged from betting that the fancy Lexus was not insured to how I sometimes struggled over the years to make sure my little Toyota had the necessary coverage. I was reminded that the first lesson in life is that “life is not fair.”

The situation started zig-zagging again in the Sheriff’s Station; “You don’t have a complete license number; these things happen all the time; you’re probably right…they don’t have insurance coverage, maybe not even a driver’s license,” and the list of possibilities went on.

I left the station thanking my lucky stars that the only damage had been a lot of nicks and chips resulting in the need of a touchup paint job, and not a real honest-to-goodness fender bender.

Sharon Benson Smith is a member of the writing class offered through the Cerritos College Adult Education Program.  It is held off-campus at the Norwalk Senior Center.