I was riding my bicycle in this residential area, about to come to an intersection, when I heard this crash to my left. I stopped and looked -- The end of a brick wall nearby that was part of an entranceway to a condo just exploded! In a second, a car appeared in the midst of this explosion. The car continued to drive slowly through the hole in the wall it had just made, pulled forward a bit more, and came to a stop. The elderly driver slowly got out, looked at the front of his car, knocked off some of the bricks that were on the hood of his car, got back in the car and SLOWLY drove off. His whole behavior was like this was the most natural thing in the world -- Darn, it's those bricks again! Oh, well, time to brush off the car! I nervously backed off from the intersection as the old man drove by. What a sight that was! The car was clearly damaged but still drivable. Lots of dents and the bumper was bent at a curious angle. He drove past me and down the road at a steady speed of 15 mph. Every now and then the car would shed a little brick or chunck of mortar it had acquired.
I just stood there for about 30 seconds, transfixed. I would glance at the wall with the large hole, turn to look at the car slowly moving away, look at the wall again... It took a few seconds for it all to sink in. I looked around. No one else was around, I was the only witness.
Then I began to panic. The crash was very loud. Certainly people will come out to investigate the noise. They will see a teenager (me) standing near a wall that had just been destroyed. I was in a Floriduh city that was very unfriendly towards children. Every other day there would be an angry letter to the editor in the newspaper demanding that children not be allowed to have skateboards, not be allowed in parks, you name it. I suddenly imagined myself standing there, a police car pulling up, someone saying, "Someone must have thrown a bomb, officer! Look at that young whipper-snapper over there! He must have done something, stop him!" I turned my bike around and pedalled away as fast as I could, afraid to look back. I didn't even think about reporting the incident to the police, even though I had a pretty good description of the car. I figured no one would believe me because after all, I was just a kid.