- Location
- East of Cincinnati
Local church is having its annual festival. The back driveway lets out on this narrow two-lane. 45mph, no sidewalks, steep shoulder. The kids use it as a shortcut to, I dunno, wherever the hell they go.
I left the house about midnight, to rent some movies, get a late bite. Traffic was heavy in both directions, people leaving the festival, parents coming to pick kids up. People are walking in the traffic lane on both sides, cars are practically rubbing mirrors trying to make room.
I'm crawling along at about 5 mph, watching the group of teens on my right snake by single file. A blonde girl, who's too young to be drunk, but is staggering as if she were, missteps. Starts to stumble down the embankment, would have fallen three feet into the ditch.
Instead, throws herself back the other way. Up the hill. Toward me. And right underneath the jeep, between the axles.
I stop the rig immediately, she grabs the doorsill and pulls herself up. Stumbles again, looks me in the eye. She's probably twelve, maybe fourteen. She turns and continues on her way.
If I had been going seven instead of five, I might not have stopped in time. If I had glanced at the oncoming traffic in that split second she went down, or if the doors had been on the rig and blocked my view, I never would have seen her. Wouldn't have known she was there, til I felt the bump, heard her scream.
A split second. A stroke of luck. Or a dead girl. A grieving family. A lifetime of wishing I had stayed home.
God it's a scary f-in world...
Robert
I left the house about midnight, to rent some movies, get a late bite. Traffic was heavy in both directions, people leaving the festival, parents coming to pick kids up. People are walking in the traffic lane on both sides, cars are practically rubbing mirrors trying to make room.
I'm crawling along at about 5 mph, watching the group of teens on my right snake by single file. A blonde girl, who's too young to be drunk, but is staggering as if she were, missteps. Starts to stumble down the embankment, would have fallen three feet into the ditch.
Instead, throws herself back the other way. Up the hill. Toward me. And right underneath the jeep, between the axles.
I stop the rig immediately, she grabs the doorsill and pulls herself up. Stumbles again, looks me in the eye. She's probably twelve, maybe fourteen. She turns and continues on her way.
If I had been going seven instead of five, I might not have stopped in time. If I had glanced at the oncoming traffic in that split second she went down, or if the doors had been on the rig and blocked my view, I never would have seen her. Wouldn't have known she was there, til I felt the bump, heard her scream.
A split second. A stroke of luck. Or a dead girl. A grieving family. A lifetime of wishing I had stayed home.
God it's a scary f-in world...
Robert
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