You just never know

I know that most of my posts have been a bit melancholy recently. There's lots of great stuff in my life, but it just doesn't linger like this story. So indulge me.

They got up on Sunday morning, just like any Sunday. She probably put a load of laundry in the wash, they had breakfast and read the paper. Around 9:50 they got in the car and headed into town for 10:15 mass.

Like all good Catholics, they sat in the same (or nearly the same) pew - right hand side two-thirds of the way back. The one next to the air conditioning vent. They wanted to arrive early enough so that any "interlopers" wouldn't beat them to "their pew".

Mass was typical for a "Sunday in Ordinary Time" - Joey played the hymns on the organ and led the singing. And Father O'Malley's homily message was "Be vigilant". How poignant that message became just a minutes hours later.

Since our choir is on summer recess, we had gone to 8:00 mass, and didn't know anything was amiss until Betsey sent an email in the early afternoon, letting us know that there had been a terrible accident in front of church and that at least one person had died. Soon thereafter the Frederick News Post had the story that two people had died and one was severely injured. No names were listed. Early version of the story indicated that an SUV was involved.

Like so many of my fellow humans are apt to do, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that some ying-yang in a street-legal tank had roared up past church in the 25 MPH zone and plowed down a little old lady crossing the street. In my mind, I wanted a villain.

One of the charms of small-town life is that everyone knows everyone. Of course, this extends to the church community. And, pertinent to this story, you know where folks sit in church and often know where they park. So, the mind starts roll call - who parks over at the American Legion or walks to church from main street, or walks to the Palms restaurant after church. Which one of our friends is it?

All afternoon we're checking the fnp website for updates. And I wonder - terrible as it seems - is it better if it's someone that we don't know? And what will become of the driver?

Finally, at 7:30 or so, fnp updates with names. And the two dead are, in fact, folks that we know - John and Pat Cillo. They live... lived.... less than a half mile up the road. Just the other week, John had seen me walking up the hill and correctly assumed that I was headed for Tim's Garage. He stopped and gave me a lift. He was a brash New Yorker - and proud of it. But he was also a nice guy, well liked in the community.

And of the villain SUV driver? Well, it turns out that she was an "AARP" aged woman who apparently hit the gas instead of the brake while parallel parking. She was coming to church early because she's a greeter for the noon mass - not your typical Cruella DeVille type. However, in less time than it takes to read this sentence, two lives are extinguished and several others will be irrevocably changed.

So, when you get up on a Sunday morning and throw laundry in the wash, remember that you just never know. Be vigilant.