Coincidence Or Did I Hear An Incident 20 Miles Away?

This story happened in August 2011.

My old workplace is situated on a fairly new industrial estate with a main carriageway and a motorway running along either side.

This particular morning, I'd just pulled into the car park. Nothing out of the ordinary, to begin with. My routine was pretty much the same. I'd arrive about 3/4 of an hour before my shift commenced. I'd have a drink of tea out of my flask, apply my make-up, chat on the phone to my partner, and wait for two of my colleagues to arrive so we could sit and chat, grabbing a bit of the morning sunshine before we 'clocked on'. The reason why I'd start out so early is because the traffic can be quite unpredictable in that part of the county and I live many miles away.

While sitting in my car, I heard the horn of a vehicle continuously beeping, over and over again. I didn't interpret this as anything unusual as the early morning rush hour meant plenty of cars used the 60mph stretch of road and the M6 where accidents or near-misses unfortunately occurred quite regularly.

I noted the time; the digital clock read 8:10AM. I kept the clock lit on the dashboard as it gave me a clear indication as to what time I should lock my car up to give me enough time to walk the length of the huge building to the workers entrance and start work on time.

When my colleagues drew in the parking space beside me a moment later, I asked them what all the fuss was about amongst the traffic. The two girls - who were best friends outside of work - looked at me confused. Their windows were wound fully down and if I could still hear the commotion I was sure they had to.

Still in our cars, we sat quietly, as I could still hear the honking of the horn sound. T and E, let's call them, claimed they heard nothing. The noise suddenly stopped; I put the beeping to the back of my mind and we chatted about other things. At 8:25AM we walked into the building to start work.

Every dinner break, like me, most colleagues would sit in their cars, windows and doors open, relaxing in the midday heat, and eat lunch. Now, I'm a pretty over-protective mother and even though two of my children are grown-up, I like to keep in constant touch to see if everything is well and they are safe. Between chats and texts with my partner I would text or call home and my children. If no one answered I'd panic!

I text my middle daughter to ask if she arrived at college safe and if she was enjoying her lessons. What she text back gave me the chills. She told me on her way to college a car had suddenly pulled out in front of the bus that took her to college. I text back worried and asked her how the bus driver avoided a catastrophe. She told me he had to apply an emergency break, but had got angry with the driver of the car and continually beeped his horn to express his annoyance.

My mind wandered to what I heard earlier in the morning. I had a rough idea of what time my daughter caught the bus, but I still asked her what time the incident had happened. She told me it happened at 8:10AM. Exactly the same time as I heard the beeping.

Now, the place where I worked is quite a distance from my home as is my daughter's college. The distance between my old workplace and my daughter's college is roughly about 20 miles, so if I did happen to tune into the beeping the driver of the bus applied, then I clearly held the best hearing ability of any human being at that point!

Maybe it is just a coincidence, but the thought of it still throws confusion my way, as it did my colleagues when I showed them the text my daughter sent. I'm just glad that no harm came to my daughter that morning and the driver used his professional skills to avert danger.

Thanks for reading,

Lakota73