... I realized several things while walking today. I had to change my route because yesterday when I walked I had a pit bull charge me. He was in a fence - a very small 4 foot fence, but it was a fence. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest and I darted across the road. By the time I got there I was nearly in tears, but I recovered quickly and kept on walking.
Years ago, Steve and I were charged by two "very friendly" pits who were trying to kill our dog in our own yard. When I tried to call Sandy in, one of the dogs lunged for my throat - and I think for Steves. I don't remember now, but for sure mine. Steve raced in and got a gun and shot one dog dead center in the chest - and it kept on coming. He shot again, it retreated and the other followed.
After it was all over, the owner (who was called by the police) said his dogs were "very friendly" and would never hurt anyone. He had them for years. The vet said the dog was fine and the bullets ricocheted off of its 'wall of armor'. However friendly he 'thought' his dogs were, we saw the other end. They were out to kill. 'Nuff said.
Later in my walk, I was walking in the road, as most of our neighborhood does not have sidewalks. Generally the roads are nice and wide, but in some areas they are narrow - just wide enough for 2 cars and a bit of room left. I heard a car screeching around a corner about 20 feet behind me. Again, I darted out of the way heart pounding and in near tears. I HATE walking on the side of the road where the traffic is coming from behind. I know we are supposed to, but I HATE it. Again, I think back to why I am like that. I was riding bikes with a friend on a then under construction section of closed highway. An drug frenzied, drunk idiot PLAYED chicken with us and hit the gas pedal.
I heard him coming, but Kim had earphones on. To this day she would say that didn't have anything to do with it - but it did. I heard him, she didn't. I dodged yelling KIM! KIM! KIM! and she did not hear me even then. He hit her. I saw it in slow motion; my friend get hit by his front bumper, fly up and hit (and break) the windshield, roll up and over the top of his car, and fall lifeless on the back side of the car. In the mean time, her bike was sailing away towards me, I was dodging it and still screaming KIM!
Next was "YOU A@#HOLE!" The jerk stopped, looked back at us and mumbled some illegible sentence and hauled ass. Kim comes around, realizes what happened and JUMPS up screaming COME BACK HERE!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!
I look at Kim and see nothing but blood. Her arm and leg had serious injuries and road rash. Her face... obviously a broken nose. I am a half a mile either way from a bridge to get to the highway on the other side of the bayou that had traffic. Remember, we are on a road that was under construction - no traffic was supposed to be on it - and I guess that included bikes, but surely it included cars.
She fell down as soon as the jerk was out of site. I take control. I take her bike and stand it sideways as best I can in the middle of the road where she fell and ordered her to stay put – hoping no one else hit her. She was getting shocky, it was the dead heat of summer and there were sugar cane fields on either side of us. No one in site, not even a house. I hopped on my bike and rode to the nearest bridge (a little one), across it and then to the highway. All the time I must have looked like an enraged fool. I was talking, screaming and crying all at the same time. I could not get one person to pull over. God helped me put that pink bike up over my head - someone WAS going to stop - even it took them running over my bike.
Just as I geared myself up to toss it, someone stopped. I was saying the tag number over and over and over and over. Thankfully, the driver realized what I was doing and he has his wife write it down. This was before cell phones, so in 5 words or less, I said what happened, where and to call an ambulance. I didn't even wait - I turned and rode back to Kim, who by that time was screaming in agony.
There is more to this story, but a helicopter came, an ambulance came and we got her to the hospital. She had a broken nose, broken arm, broken collar bone, cracked hip, and severe road rash - but she lived to talk about it.
The guy was caught, sentenced and is probably still serving time. It just so happened he had a bazillion other arrest warrants and the judge didn't take our accident too kindly on top of the rest of his mess.
All of this to say: walking today, two major events in my life still affect me to this day. I don't consciously think of them, but the instant something clicks in my brain (pit bull charging the fence or car coming behind me fast) I have a terror attack. I guess the common terminology would be PTSD.
It never goes away, does it? Things that we think are long since over in our lives revisit us and still try to control our lives.
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