Tae 2 - 3 am on a highway

I recently went to a call for a motor vehicle accident on a major highway in my service area. While enroute to the call - we received an update that it was a 'car vs. deer - no injuries.' Apparently, a deer had stumbled across this major highway, and since all MASS drivers travel ten to twenty miles over the speed limit, this guy's car struck the deer going oh - say seventy to eighty miles per hour. Upon our arrival, we found a Ford Probe with it's front end demolished, windshield flattened, with expired deer laying across both front seats, and one visibly shaken driver, sitting on the sidewalk, smoking a butt. When the car struck the deer (from the side), the front of the car went under the deer's body, breaking it's legs, and bringing the deer up and over the hood of the car. It then smashed through the windshield, and landed on the lap of the driver. As it was still alive, it started to thrash wildly, while the driver - amazingly - was able to guide the car over several lanes onto the breakdown lane. The driver was fine, if not a little shaken. He was also covered in deer blood and ground glass. We asked the guy if he wanted to go to the hospital, to which he replied: "I just want to get a Valium from the car," and opened the glove-box ofthe car and retrieved and prescription pill bottle from it. I noticed that it had the name of a woman on it, and asked "Uh, excuse me, but is that your Valium?" Normally I wouldn't ask such a question - but since the cops and fire-fighters were busy looking at the deer carcass, we had some modicum of privacy. "Well, this is my grandmother's prescription. But sometimes - you know." He smiled sheepishly. Ah , if he only knew...

The days when my gramps was alive - every month I'd accompany him to the pharmacy, where he'd pick up his _fifteen_ prescriptions, go home, and watch him toss all fifteen bottles into a shopping bag - overflowing with other bottles o' drugs. He never took them, but since Medicare paid for it all, he made damn sure he got them every month. Which was good for me since he had prescriptions for Valium, Percocet, and (my favorite) Tranxene, the 'benzodiazepine for a man on the move.' Just as my eyes began to glaze over in reverie to the good 'ol days, my attention was called by the fact that the cops were taking pictures of the vehicle. As I moved closer, I noticed that they had moved the deer carcass to a seated position on the passenger side, and they had propped one of it's shattered legs out the window, an old baseball cap had been placed in a rakish angle on it's head, as well as a lit cigarette between it's lips. The cops were taking turns sitting (gingerly) in the driver's seat, with an arm around the deer, while another would take a picture of him. Not to miss my chance, I hurried over to get my picture taken - then I got another call - damn. As I rolled on the next call - I swore I would make whoever called me away from my picture-taking pay dearly for the interruption. And I did. But that's another story.

- Tae

(Originally posted: Wed, 27 Apr 1994)