Why I got home late tonight

I 85 southbound, in the Carolina countryside. Sunny and bright, after a hard rain. Jewel-sparkles in the grass on the embankment to my right. A nice-looking brunette running her fingers through her hair, as she stretches beside her car, about fifty yards ahead.

Yeah, you read that right. She's standing beside her car. It's not moving.

Neither are any of the others, as far behind me as the eye can see. To my left, children and little dogs romp in the median. People stand around talking on their cells, or to each other, or staring myopically at their Blackberries(tm), thumbs moving frantically. And a few hundred yards ahead, a sea of flashers, red and yellow and blue.

A few miles ago, the rain was so heavy I had to slow to 35 just to keep some road visible ahead of me. Carefully sliding past all the cars and motorcycles huddled under the overpasses. It cleared a trifle about the time I stopped for fuel, and I thought the slow part of the drive was over.

But here I am, safely stopped in the middle of a long skinny parking lot. And about a thousand feet ahead (the CB passes the word) a car is sandwiched between two large trucks. Both southbound lanes are blocked by the wreck. Both northbound lanes are blocked by emergency vehicles.

And, having nothing better to do, we get out of our vehicles and make guesses about what's going on up there.

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Well, it can't be good.

The northbound traffic is moving again, sort of. The big rescue truck blocking both lanes has moved on. Two ambulances and a medevac copter have come and gone. One ambulance didn't bother with the siren. Or the lights. That is suggestive.

A truck passing northbound said he saw indications of a fire. Hope not. Things are probably bad enough up there already.

Southbound is still sitting. I just heard the police behind me are turning cars around and sending them back up the shoulder to the nearest ramp. They don't do that if they expect it to clear up any minute.

Looks like I'm here for a while.

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Finally moving. I was near the head of the line, only a couple of hundred yards back, so once they cleared a lane I wasn't too bad off.

Passed the crash site. Fire-retardant foam all over the road. That's probably what the northbound driver saw. No sign of an actual fire, though.

The original report was right, it seems. Two trucks--trucks, not semi's. I can't tell if they're small commercial trucks or the largest box vans you can drive without a CDL. One's a rental, the other belongs to a company that might or might not need a commercial vehicle. Not that it matters. They were quite big enough.

In between them is a ball of metal. That's the only way I can describe it. A giant might be able to bowl with it. I try not to imagine what the passenger compartment looked like. I didn't see space for one.

I keep going. And try not to think too much.

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The northbound traffic was back to normal about seven miles past the crash site. No idea how far things were backed up on my side of the road.

A guy is on the CB for another five miles or so, warning people about the backup. I'll let him do the talking.

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I was supposed to pick up a load about noon today and take it to my terminal, then take the weekend off. I expected to be home about 5:00.

The customer didn't have the load ready until about 3:30. It happens. I was slightly annoyed, but what the heck. I'd still make it by bedtime.

I just got to the terminal. It's about 10:30. By the time I get the truck cleared out for the next driver it will be past midnight. My wife will not be pleased.

I've seen the alternative. I'll live with it.

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Small addendum:
I recognized one of those trucks. It was fueling at the pump next to mine.