Quintessential Me

Of all the places to see a deer.

I have one rather brief but vivid memory of hitting an animal -what we later thought to be a wild boar-- at highway speeds. In the blink of an eye there was animal, brakes, and impact. It was followed by a brief off-road excursion, releasing the brake pedal, and gently steering back onto the road. The later proved to be a mistake as the extent of the damage showed an inability to steer the car on pavement. Oddly enough the offroad environment allowed the damaged parts to operate, but the high traction environment of the road placed me stopped dead center of a two-lane part of a dark country, four-lane divided highway. Time continued to slow. There were massive amounts of people offering "assistance." Initially hesitant to move the car, I quickly acceded and the car was dragged off the road. Then the hoards of "helpful" citizens left me alone to wait beside the highway for the wrecker I called (who happened to be my father in law). More technically, I suppose, I called my wife who called him. After a considerable amount of time, quite a good deal of turmoil, and the resolution to always use my high beams when possible, we made our way home towing a shattered shell of a hybrid car.

Needless to say that when the other day in the middle of Houston driving on I-10 at night, I was less than pleased to be startled by a deer imediately before my car with an imminent collision approaching. The deer quite nimbly leaped into the next lane in one hop and into the subsequent lane on its second hop. Deftly avoiding traffic, the dear made its frightened way across the congested, 12 lane divided highway until I could no longer see its progress across the 6 lane medium. Astounded I wasn't alone. Had it really made it across 7 lanes before I encountered it or had it crossed 5 and changed course backtracking? Given the deer's progress and direction, I'm forced to believe, to hope that the beautiful animal skillfully completed the rest of its course. It was incredible.

posted by mokru @ 1:29 PM