The Explosion

I went out with my voice twin last night. We went to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream.

My car still needs to go into the shop. It's driving rough, but not due to the engine. In fact, it runs so rough that my voice twin commented that one could have an orgasm while sitting in the passenger seat long enough. Which sent me into hysterics.

Both the ice cream and the company were spectacular.

We went back to her house to just hang for a bit. While we were there, my friends dad called me. He had a couple of things to discuss that were important. We talked about my friend ( his daughter) and her health, a potential client for me and the status of the chorale we both sing in.

We hung out a little while longer.

When I left, I took a longer route home so I was on local roads as I wasn't comfortable with the level of bounce over 40 miles per hour.

I called my step-mom on the phone while enroute to my house to let her know that I spoke to my friends dad. I was still on the phone with her when I walked into the house.

I was in the house about 5 minutes when we heard the explosion. Everyone, to a man, who has a window facing south in our condo, ran to the window. But nothing could be seen. My neighbor across the way called me to ask what the hell was going on.

I hung up ith my step mom and talked to my neighbor about the possibilities.

The explosion sounded like either a gunshot ( a big one ) or an M80. That was my assessment. There were "kids" Hanging out in our parking lot which is where the sound appeared to originate. They were there until roughly 11 PM.

This morning I went downstairs to meet Jenna for coffee and noticed my tire flat as flat can be and a perfectly round hole in it.

Not normally being an alarmist, but being raised to be vigilant, my first thought was vandalism. One of those kids must have shot out my tire. And the irony of it was they were hanging out directly opposite from my car. So my thought process wasn't a stretch.

Feeling tense, and just trying to organize my thoughts, I called Jenna. As luck would have it, she was just about near me, so she came to pick me up. She took one look at the tire and we got in the car. Ever the cool head prevailing, she announced that we would go pick up coffee and breakfast and head back to her house. While she may not be speaking to her husband, I was and he would help us. So she called him from the car and said,

"Hi, it's me. I'm not speaking to you but Contessa is. We are picking up coffee and then coming home. I need you to take her keys and put her spare on. "

"OK sure. I'm not doing anything. I just got out of the shower."

So I yell into the speaker phone,

"Thank YOU!!!!" but he was already gone.

We get our coffee and breakfast. At her house I hand the keys over and tell him where my car is parked.

And hour and half later he called from the local tire place. The tire could be replaced for 70 dollars. I authorized it and he said it wasn't shot out. It was an air bubble the exploded.

Mental head slap.

The explosion last night.

Duh.

My tire exploded within 5 minutes of my getting out of the car last night.

Holy crap.

I could have been driving the car when that happened.

I would tell you that I was lucky. But I think it's the answer to a prayer.

I wasn't supposed to BE in the car.

And the Beauty of it????

The shake rattle and roll ??? essentially gone. I will take it in to make sure the passenger side is OK as the shaking seemed to be worse there, but for the most part I was back driving the speed limit.

I can't imagine what that would have done while I was driving. My mind shuts down at the thought.

The funny thing is, I just checked the air pressure last week and all tires were perfect. So how this air bubble came in to play confused me. So I had Jenna's husband explain it to me.

If you rub your tire against a curb while parking or something like that? YOu wear down the wall of the tire. Thus air can get in. Hence a bubble CAN form. And with extreme heat, can expand and with no where else to go? BAM !!!! Explosion.

We were 90+ degree heat till yesterday. It was in the 60's last night. The tire guy was not only NOT surprised that it happened but he was shocked to learn I wasn't driving it at the time. You see the heat and friction from driving is ultimately what did it.

Imagine popping a balloon. Loud right????

A tire popping- the ultimate balloon incidentally - shook the building.

For me, I was just happy to know that my tire didn't got shot out by vandalism. I would much rather be the responsible party. I would rather have to kick my own ass than someone elses.

Drive safely!