My car narrowly escapes its demise

Coming home from work, I was turning into the alley, 500 feet from my garage, when the oil indicator light went on. I drove the rest of the way home, figuring the risk of ruining the engine would be small over such a short distance.

I popped the hood and cleaned off the dipstick. Put it back in, checked the level... And the dipstick was completely dry. Yikes!

It's a good thing there's an auto supply store around the corner. I bought three quarts of oil and ended up using two before the level registered in the normal range. I think the car should be OK, but I'll need to find out where the oil is disappearing to.

I know some people who have had the oil light go on and assumed they could drive a few more miles to the nearest gas station. But you know what happens when you assume.