Dead Deer in the Middle of the Road

It is dark and raining. Drew and I are heading home after a long day of work and study, class and QiGong movement. Traffic is unusually heavy on Buffalo Road. Ahead, I can see the red flashing lights of some emergency vehicle. The SUV in front of me slows to a crawl. Something is afoot.

As we get closer, I can see a police car, bright lights flashing, parked crosswise in the middle of the road. It must be bad. I see dark forms of people walking beyond the lights. Two trucks are parked along the edge of the other side of the road.

It isn't until after we pass the police car that I see the problem. A deer lies quivering in the center lane, it fur fluffing and floating off like dandelion fuzz. Its head is twisted in an awkward position, obviously the neck has snapped. One glassy eye stares vacantly toward the night sky.

And then we are past. The jarring vision of death fades as we pull back into the lane and speed up, edging toward the lights of the gas station just ahead. It is a difficult stretch of road. Just a half hour earlier, Kiel had come through that same section of Buffalo Road and had seen three deer wandering the fields in the fading daylight.

I am grateful that we did not hit the poor little deer. I am sorry another deer has been sacrificed. I suppose it is an inevitable clash between progress and nature. I just wish it didn't have to be this way.