2009-01-29

Where there's smoke, there's...Nothing

I was cruising up I-270 near St. Louis on Thursday. Suddenly I saw traffic slowing down around me. Brake lights came on and black smoke billowed up ahead.

I was torn between two reactions. First, "Wow. I hope no one's hurt." And second, "Wow. This might look really cool. I hope it's worth the traffic delay."

Oh, don't look at me like that. You know that thought crosses your mind, too.

So I pulled out my camera, snuck my hand through the wrist strap in case I had to drop it quickly, and began shooting picture blindly through the windshield as I negotiated the traffic.


Pretty interesting, right? It got more interesting when I realized the smoke was moving. We had a fire traveling down the interstate.

Did anyone call the police?

Did the driver know?

Do you have to pay an extra toll when haul fire?

Is there a fire shortage someplace and they are importing more?

Why not Fedex the fire?

But when I got closer, there was no fire.


It was just a lousy, old dump truck hauling coal and spewing half if load across the interstate.

Seriously, people. Cover your load. Don't tease us like that.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Geez, I was expecting something too! good job building up the suspense lol

Anonymous said...

haha - that reminds me of a joke I heard one time. I think it was Dane Cook I was listening to. Anyway, it was about being stuck in traffic and thinking "someone better be dead up there or something!"

Anonymous said...

"fire shortage" made me snort.

Cromely said...

@RearVuMirr Thanks.

@Sadie That could be. It's something many people must think but would never say.

@Nona Managing inventory can be challenging in these tough times.