Yeah, each animal I see on the side of the road is one of those loveable, squeezeable Disney characters. How could anyone possibly hit them I wonder? They are CUTE animals!!
Then I ran over a squirrel three weeks after I first earned my license. I was in shock. More shock than I thought possible (although it is probable that I exaggerated my feelings at the time since I'm ADD like that). I wanted to cry and beat myself up over the fact that I just killed a cute squirrel for no good reason. Then there was the time a bird flew into my windshield while driving on the highway.
So I found out that sometimes you just can't help it. It happens. Animals aren't taught to look both ways as they cross the road. One thing I had learned since beginning to drive, was that to watch out for Deer. Not only did they live abundantly in my area, but if you were to hit one, whoo boy. You were going to have a buy a new bumper.
Which brings me to my main point, I try like HECK to not hit Deer. The woods near my house usually have a few in them and so I'm always keeping a sharp eye out for those glowing eyes. So when I started home from class the other night, I wasn't expecting what would happen.
Long story short, (Too late!....anyone get the reference? Anyone? Oh, look up the movie Clue.) less than 30 seconds after leaving campus I saw a Deer crossing the highway and the oncoming truck lighting the silhouette. The next few moments seemed to be in slow motion. I saw the truck hit the Deer and the body fly towards me. The Deer landed a split second before my car passed over it and my hands left the wheel for a moment due to the jarring of the car passing over a hundred-some pound animal.
My first reaction was to make sure that I was ok, and that my car was ok. Once that was double checked, I murmured "Oh my God....I think I just killed Bambi's mother." Then I white knuckled it all the way home and once in the house, promptly burst into tears for about a minute.
Then I got angry.....I believe I cursed that Deer into oblivion, saying "I freaking just got that car this summer. This summer!! Shiznet, what if there's major damage to the car??" I didn't even want to go and look because after all, what if there were...parts...stuck on the undercarriage? So I waited till morning arrived and forced myself to look at the damage. Thankfully only some parts that looked like plastic were hanging loose but there was one suspicious object which I quickly glanced over and didn't think about. Ew.
I also, thankfully, had another car which I could drive the next morning. Which I did, and have used since. I personally don't ever want to go through that again. I definitely prefer seeing Deer in fields near my house rather than flying under my car.
