Something about today reminded me of car bombs. Perhaps someone referenced fiddles, or Russian Jews, or tradition. Or it could be I saw a toy store out of the corner of my eye. These things all say "car bomb" to me because of my history with car bombs.
I was young the evening the car bomb went off 100 yards away from me. It was 1979 or 1980, I assume, because I was on a date with Joey S______, watching Fiddler On the Roof. (I know the movie doesn't fit the time. I remember thinking, "Why are they playing this old movie?") We were in the Halls Ferry Cinema, unaware that in the parking lot of the Children’s Palace toy store next door a car bomb was ticking away.
The opening credits rolled, Tevye was singing about tradition, and then there was a metallic boom that shook the wall. Audience heads swivled toward the noise,paused, then swiveled back because there was dancing on screen. I wrote it off as a kid kicking a soccer ball against the wall of the theater, because we were sitting by the outside wall of the outermost cine of the Halls Ferry 6 Cine. (Only 6! So quaint. The days that movie houses came in half-dozens.)
The next day the boyfriend let me know that his mother had been very worried, because a car bomb had exploded in the parking lot of the Children’s Palace next door to the cinema. So, if you ever happen to hear something that sounds like a soccer ball being kicked against a theater, stand back, it may be a car bomb.
Of course, now that I have access to All Truth in internet form, I can find no history of a Children's Palace car bomb. I am undeterred, because I remember the Internet kept pretty quiet about the time someone drove past Grant's Farm and shot a Clydesdale. I couldn't find one word about that, and that happened. Besides, that was about the same time as the Leisure bombings, and I suppose if a bomb goes off and no one dies, it's like the tree falling silently in the forest. Just another car bombing at the toy store.
What is most odd to me is that I didn't think to tell you all about this before.
Was it a very hot day? If so, maybe it wasn't a bomb.
- If it's a hot day, and
- if it was an air-cooled car, and
- if someone left it running "for just a minute", and
- especially if they left the A/C on,
then the motor could blow itself apart. Not necessarily a fiery explosion, but pretty loud and messy. That probably wouldn't make the papers.
Posted by: ~~Silk | December 05, 2014 at 12:37 AM
~~Silk - yes, but if it didn't make the news how did the boyfriend's mother know about it when he came home? Ah - I left out that part.
Posted by: theQueen | December 05, 2014 at 08:08 AM
Yikes!
Posted by: Hattie | December 08, 2014 at 09:51 PM
It might make the radio or local TV news, but too late for the paper to bother.
Posted by: ~~Silk | December 08, 2014 at 11:59 PM
Hattie - I know!
~~Silk - Hm. I suppose. I might contact the boyfriend on Facebook and see if he remembers.
Posted by: theQueen | December 10, 2014 at 07:25 PM
I was downtown, working at Edison Brothers, when the Leisure bombing took place. Sounded like thunder, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Very weird.
Posted by: Marcia | December 11, 2014 at 08:41 PM
Marcia - that would have been the mansion house bombing, I take it.
Posted by: Thequeen | December 16, 2014 at 10:22 PM