A Pop And No Reply

From the alley and past my house came a car - engine racing and a barely a stop at the corner intersection, turning north and racing into the night. Those two events together - the four or five pops that echoed through the night and an insistant car engine - meant trouble. I peered through my blinds out at the corner intersection to see what I might see.

Another car, at full tilt and from the south, came flying through the intersection. It didn't slow but simply barreled through the four-way stop and continued north. I went hunting for my phone... which I had mis-placed. The roar of a car engine yet again caught my attention. It was the same car, this time, coming back from the north in full reverse! It slowed down only slightly at the four way on my corner, just to make a turn, in reverse, to travel west. The skill it took to do that left me a bit amazed.

By the time I found my phone, a police cruiser was heading towards the origin of the disturbance. I flipped on my outside lights just in case anyone needed to see anything in particular.

So this is what I peiced together in my own mind: Car #1 was the shooter. They crept up the alleyway and fired several rounds at the target (or the targets house). They fled going up the alley, out to the east-west street and then turning north. Car #2 was the intended target. They pursued north, until thinkging that Car #1 had gone a different route, back-tracked to go west.

You might expect that this would have made me rather paranoid. But you know what... not really.