Friday, April 10, 2009

Death by Car

Many many years ago my brother came to visit me while I was in college. He had been there for a few days when we were all in the car and he had a confession to make. He explained to us that he had done something really bad and that he didn't know if he could even talk about it. How intriguing is that? WHAT could he have done? So he proceeded to tell us that on his drive from Spokane to Rexburg he had hit something? What had he hit that would have been so horrible? I had to ask if he had hit a PERSON, which of course he had not. My next question was if he had hit a horse? He then asked what kind of idiot hits a horse - well I have a roommate who actually hit TWO horses head on. She was driving to seminary (religion class before school) one early morning and only had one working headlight. She drove with her high beams on until a car came towards her and she turned down to 1 headlight. When she flipped her brights back on it was too late - two horses were RUNNING right towards her. She was lucky to have walked away uninjured - the horses were not so lucky. Back to my brother's story - once he stopped being completely shocked at the horse story - we continued guessing what he could have hit. A dog? A porcupine? A cat? Ahhhhh yes a cat. He hit a cat and for 3 days could only think about some little girl getting up in the morning and going outside to look for her cat and finding the aftermath. For three days he couldn't even TALK about that he had hit a cat.

I have been fortunate in the fact that I have never hit a cat, dog, horse or porcupine (I had a roommate who hit a porcupine too if you're wondering why I brought this up two times.) I have, however, been at fault for the death of several birds. I'm always amazed when the birds make it without being hit by the car but even MORE amazed when they don't fly fast enough. I hit a bird today that didn't fly HIGH enough. I've gotten over it though...I didn't even have to wait 3 days to blog about it.

5 comments:

Amazed said...

well, I'm glad it wasn't a person. I made it like 40 years before I hit an animal....a dog...that was blind and almost deaf...wandering out on a country road during terrible rain and fog.
My two sons were with me...and my one son took off his jacket and covered the dog in the rain and just cooed to it and talked softly until help arrived. It was one of the most tender scenes I have of mothering in my life.

MarmiteToasty said...

I hit a cat once and it got stuck up under the wheel arch :( fank goodness I was with someone who pulled it out mangled and dead by its tail, cos I was in pieces.... everything else Im hit and killed Ive been ok about, it was just, like your brother, the thought of someone out calling their cat every morning.....

Just glad it was not a person he hit and didnt tell about lol

x

Sandier Pastures said...

We almost had an accident when hubby hit the brakes abruptly to avoid hitting a bird that couldn't fly properly!

Though hitting animals is horrible, hurting yourself and the passengers while avoiding a collision with animals is scary stuff and dangerous too!

Take care!

Christie O. said...

you make me laugh every time! i almost hit a bird today who also did not fly high enough but eventually did at the last minute (thank god, or this might be a very different comment). anyway, glad he didn't hit a person, but i'd be sad too if i hit a cat. even those darned squirrels that are constantly running out in front of me, i'd probably cry over. then again, i get upset when my son talks about mashing ants (him: i mashed him, mommy! me: don't DO that! he was probably on his way home for dinner!)

active toddler said...

Glad I never hit anything or anybody :)