Back when I was in high school, around '83, I worked for a crop consulting company in rural, eastern Louisiana. A crew of us would go from farm to farm on the backside of nowhere taking infestation samples and turning them in to the entimologist for review.
Once such day, we were passing through Frogmore, Louisiana. I say passing through very generally, because there's only a gin, a small convenience store, and a fork in the road a Frogmore. Only a handful of houses are at Frogmore.
As we got about .5 mile west of the Frogmore Gin and store, we witnessed a man in his 60's get hit head-on by two drunks in a pickup. The gentleman's car flipped over at least twice and landed upside-down in the ditch next to the road. The engine compartment almost immediately produced a small, but growing fire.
The wreck happened behind us and we had to turn around to attempt to render aid. Just prior to the wreck, we passed a fellow walking down the side of the road carrying a fire extinguisher in his hand. Before we were able to the gentlemans car, the fellow with the fire extinguisher had run to the car, jumped onto the underside, and was putting out the fire with the extinguisher. In the confusion to follow, I lost track of the fellow with the fire extinguisher. I'm not saying he 'disappeared', I just don't remember seeing him again.
Here's the problem with this whole story. Frogmore, LA is 10 or so miles from the nearest anything. The wreck didn't occur in front of any homes, or businesses. There was no reason for this fellow to be walking down the road with a 6" diameter, fully charged fire extinguisher. Not to mention this fellow's quick thinking and willingness to endanger himself by mounting the inverted car and spraying directly down onto the burning engine.
I'll take that memory with me to the grave I'm sure. I'm equally sure that I'll never understand the sequence of events that enabled the gentleman in the car to escape almost certain emolation.
Some things defy explaination.
