foran_object

Last night at about 1:30 AM I awoke to the sound of an air raid siren. Ominous and scary, right away I knew what the sound was. The elementary school I attended had one, and as a little kid, they tested it occasionally. My mother said they would use it some day if war broke out, and planes started to bomb our city. If I ever heard it, I was to come home right away. She also explained to me that countries were getting along better than when the school was built, so it was unlikely that it would ever be used for real. Still though, the fear was forever implanted within me.

Being in the U.S., far from home, I right away was charged with adrenaline and scared. “Damn the Americans and their aggressive relations with every county whom they think is bad”, I thought. I thought to 9/11, and the fact that I was in the same state. “Why do they have to be attacked when I’m visiting?” I thought. My heart pounded in my chest.

I started up the computer to check for information on the Internet. As the siren wailed, I’ve never been so impatient watching the computer boot up. Finally when it came up, I checked CNN, CBS, and local news. Nothing…

I called the front desk of the hotel. My voice obviously panicked, the desk clerk explained that the siren was on the top of one of the other hotels nearby, and it was used to signal that a truck was leaving the nearby volunteer fire station, and that volunteers should come. Why a big city like Syracuse needs a volunteer fire department is beyond me. The siren was silenced shortly thereafter, but came back on several more times. It seemed as though it was pretty much as got I got back to sleep each time.

This morning I complained to someone from the company I’m visiting. They explained that there had been a bad car accident on the highway near my hotel. I searched the ‘net and found this:

Man dies in a crash early this morning
A man was killed on Interstate 481 today in a fiery crash in Cicero.

The Onondaga County Medical Examiners Office is scheduled to perform an autopsy later today to determine the motorist’s identity and the cause of death, state police troopers said.

Troopers say the crash happened about 1:30 a.m. The motorist was traveling south on I-481 in a 2004 Ford Taurus. The motorist lost control of the car and entered the median, troopers said.

The car crossed the northbound lanes and struck a guide rail. The Taurus then caught fire. When emergency responders arrived at the scene, the Taurus was fully engulfed in flames, troopers said.

Once responders extinguished the fire, they found the man, who was already deceased, in the car, troopers said.

posted by foran  # 6:41 PM