Saturday, March 8, 2008

In a second

Driving down a dark country road my peripheral caught an object on the side of the street.  My heart starts pounding but I do not dare hit the breaks, not enough to time to stop, not enough time to miss him.  In a split second I feel panicked knowing I am about to cause the death of a living thing.  I am in the wrong.  Mother nature did not create vehicles, man did.  Should I swerve and risk my life to serve justice?  After all, the bunny is only doing what he was born to do.  In his perfect world, there would be no streets, houses or cars, just trees, grass and predator vs prey.  Oh no, what do I do?  A split second later, I realize my little bunny, was nothing more than a large leaf "hopping" under my tires.  So I killed a leaf, not the Easter bunny.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

over twenty five years ago Dave hit a rabbit. We both cried and it took me days to recover from it.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jamie,
Thank God you didn't swerve to avoid the leaf.  Even if it is a bunny, don't swerve in a situation like that!  I once had a similar experience and, unfortunately, it wasn't a leaf.  A dog bolted out of nowhere right in front of my car on one of the busiest streets in L.A.  I couldn't avoid hitting him ... I even heard what I thought sounded like a dull thud against my car.  I pulled over as soon as it was safe to do so and looked everywhere for the dog but couldn't find him.  I called one of the animal shelters and asked them to be on the lookout but I still sometimes wonder whatever happened to that dog ...
Best,
Marty

Anonymous said...

WHEW!!!  I hate driving in rural areas at night because there seem to always be kamikazi possums, rabbits, deer on those dark roads.  Glad you only killed a leaf.  :0)

Russ

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, another me!!  I find I am weaving & swerving all over the road over leafs, twigs and various other non living things.  I have run more than one person off the road in my manic swerving.  
xxx
Lisa