I have seen the future, and it is now.

The theme of last month's ArtBeat Festival was "Somerville...of the Future". Well, this morning I witnessed a little slice of futuristic chaos: the collision of a bicycle with the fire department's brand new Prius. According to the bicyclist, the Prius stopped suddenly to avoid a pedestrian, and he couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting it. He seemed shaken but not injured, and his bike was fine (this conveniently happened in front of Ace Wheel Works), but the Prius, a beautiful red shiny thing with white stripes and FIRE DEPARTMENT written across both sides in white letters, suffered a few scratches on its right rear quarter panel. What ensued was a convergence on the scene of every sort of ground assault vehicle in the city's possession: police car, motorcycle, fire truck, you name it. Sirens and lights and about 10 cops and firemen making sure the guy was all right, filling out forms and getting information, taking pictures; the most sweet and apologetic group of law enforcement officials I've ever seen. Seriously. I was on my pink bike with my cell phone camera; they paid me no mind, so I snapped a few Harriet the Spy-style shots of the little spectacle. Apparently, when earth-friendly vehicles go bad, everybody wins. Yay!