A Tree Ate My Car

At about 4:00 this gray afternoon, the husband and I finally made it out of the house to go to see the last day of the Cecily Brown exhibit on the west side. After pushing through about 5 crazies who were loitering in the hallway (which is another story for another day) we emerged to find a light drizzle outside. As we walked down the street we wondered about how we would fare the entire evening without an umbrella. Should we (or he) go back up 76 steps to get an umbrella? Should we buy yet another umbrella?

No, I said, why don't we get an umbrella from the trunk of the car. What a great idea. So, to the car we went, parked on the corner of 13th Street and Ave. B.

As we walked down the street, we noticed several police cars blocking the road. What had happened, we wondered? What were they doing? It seemed that they were removing a giant tree from on top of a car. What car? MY CAR.

Normally I would not visit my car unless I was going somewhere until at least Sunday afternoon when it is time to move it to the other side of the street. And since alternate sides are suspended this Monday I probably wouldn't have normally gone to see it until Monday afternoon.

It also turns out that the president of our garden, Ken, was driving on 13th Street and braked just in time to miss getting crushed by the tree, which skimmed the front of his car.

Type of tree: Callery Pear, known to have weak branches that fall frequently.







P.S. I told the cop on the scene that I would mention what a fine job they did removing the tree quickly. Yes they did. Right in same place where they put up a police cabin and spent over 2 years, full time, guarding an empty building to keep squatters out, ignoring the blatant drug dealing and crime going on in the one square block surrounding area.