Just As I Thought

Things that you shouldn’t see

The sun is out, the air is warm, my headache is gone, and I went out to get food for Diego.
Driving down El Camino Real with the window down, I was enjoying the sunny California weather, the kind of weather I moved here for…
and then the bird flew down low across the road, slamming head first into the car ahead and to the left of me. It bounced off and landed in my lane, and at first I wasn’t entirely sure it was a bird, hoping against hope that it was just a bit of litter. Until I got closer, and saw the bird laying in the middle of the busy road. I couldn’t stop — what would I do if I could? — but kept going, driving over the creature and leaving it behind on the hot pavement, in the middle of the lane where wheels would likely not crush it.
And this event will be with me for a while, the wondering if it died immediately when it hit the car, or if it suffered laying there in the street. Was it the fault of man for putting all those moving metal boxes out there, or was there something wrong with the bird, misjudging its flight?
So many questions and just one very sad emotion.

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