It was a dark and….well, it was just a dark night in November. Which isn’t surprising anytime after 5 pm once Daylight Savings Time ends. Rick and I were on our way on to Edmonton, heading up to my first in-person Oilers hockey game of the season, of the past two years almost, because you know: COVID. We knew we were probably not going to get there in time for the first period, but that was okay. Life happens.

And then, we hit a deer.

Or, more accurately, the deer hit us. I’m pretty sure we had the right of way, but then again, TELL THAT TO THE DEER. Initially, I thought that we missed “the” deer but then as per usual, this guy was not travelling alone. I barely had time to be flabbergasted before “second deer” made first contact.

And second contact, and then probably third. I dunno, it all happened pretty fast, y’know? Rick did some excellent maneuvering to minimize damage to both deer and car. You can infer all you want about speed limits – which Rick likes to think of as speed suggestions – but really, speed wasn’t the issue. The ISSUE was a couple of dang deer deciding to play chicken on Highway 16.

So many idioms to mess with: Why did the deer cross the road? Was the grass tastier on the other side? Was this where the rutter hits the road?

We got off pretty lucky. We assessed the car at the side of the road first and then deemed it safe to drive to the Innisfree truck stop so we could further inspect it under the bright lights of the gas station. And after pulling a few random pieces of plastic off my poor car – which some nincompoop at Ford named AN ESCAPE (talk about misleading advertising) – we decided to proceed with Plan A. The car was pretty beat up on the drivers’ side, the front headlight looked like alien eyes on a fourth grader’s art project and one of the doors made a gunshot sound when you opened it. But you know, still driveable.

PLUS: we had a hockey game to get to. The car got us to our destination in time for the second period and surprisingly neither Rick nor I was all that shook up with the evening’s events thus far. Well, until Connor McDavid scored another one of his ridiculous goals. That’s enough to get your heart rate going.

I think he was going faster than the deer. Just sayin.