Driving home from Larned right before Christmas, the 23rd, the night was cold with a chance of snow and covered in the darkness only the sparse population of Western Kansas can create. My fiance and my two male cousins who live in Salina and I were playing the alphabet game through Great Bend to pass the time. Great Bend was the only chance we got to play a game, because billboards don't exist after Great Bend for about a hundred miles.
We were chattery and giggly, having the whimsical mind wanderings of a long car trip when from the corner of my eye I spotted an unavoidable collision and just lightly tapped the breaks to slow the inevitable. I'm not sure I immediately gathered my wits, but the car stopped about a quarter mile away from the impact. All four of us were unharmed, not even whip lash. My cousin handed me the phone and I dialed 911 to make sure I got an insurance claim. I remember getting out of the car, looking at the damage, and exclaiming "SHIT" louder then I do when I strike out. Not only was the wheel well smashed up on the tire, but there were dropping deer guts (and hairs!) on my passenger door on the drivers side. After inspecting the whole drivers side of the car for multiple nefarious dents, I went back in the passengers side to sit down (b/c the drivers side no longer opened from the outside) and realized my fiance and younger cousin had walked off to check the mileage marker (brilliant idea that...). So My older cousin and I sat in the car and waited, mostly with me ranting about my car; I rather favored it once upon a time.
Eventually a car pulls up behind us, and me being a female and him being under 18, I immediately tell him to lock his door. The guy who walks up has a smile on, and kind of laughs when he asks "You guys the ones who hit the deer back there?" My cousin nods his head. "Is everyone OK?" Another nod. "Wheres the driver?" At that I opened my door to show myself and started talking outside the car near the damage. He tells me four other deer are near the fallen one (it was a yearling thankfully, so that made sense) and that he is going to go watch over them so no one else runs into it. It seems like a nice thing to do to me, so I get back in my car. He goes to his car, must have had a second though, comes right back up to my window and I quote: "If you guys hear a gun shot don't worry, it's just me finishing it off." I swallowed hard and nodded with a smile. I had opened my door and even gotten out of the car with a man who did have a gun! But, he had no ill intention, I just crossed the advised safety lines enough to make me not want to tread foot on that side again.
He did sit out by the deer, probably wanting the jerky. But when the county deputy did show up I guess he got run off because anyone lucky enough to hit a deer with the car is entitled to the meat, and this man with a gun shooting that deer (who wasn't dead by the way, instead suffering slowly) would have been illegal. The deputy gets to our car, takes the report, decides to chuck my left blinker which fell off into the ditch, asks if we are drivable, and heads back to his car. We debate it for a few seconds, laugh at the deputy's stupidity, and go get the light. My car is foreign, and hell if I knew what piece to order without having the physical copy to take to Auto Zone. After that I put the car in drive and accelerate slowly to about 70. The deputy kindly followed for about a mile before turning around. Then we pass over the first bridge. Any bump in the road made the tire rub on the newly dented wheel well and squeal as if it would pop. The first few times confused us, but once we figured out what was happening I slowed the car down to about forty, and my 16 year old Catholic cousin began to repeat the Hail Mary under his breath until we reached Salina.
Prayers in the back seat and at a crawl of a pace, we did make it back to Salina in one piece, dropped off the boys, and parked the car. Then all that was left was the (still) unresolved hassle of insurance. Actually, all I have left is to fax the copy of the title, which I pick up Monday from the courthouse, and to get a check - I think. But as many phone calls and errands as I've done for this already and its almost a part time job to collect on your insurance!
The car really isn't too bad off. My dad took a screwdriver and a hammer to the dents and fixed a majority of them. The car is a far stretch from pretty and still missing a blinker, but at least the wheel well doesn't rub.
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