I was taken to the police station to answer
questions.
She was all right, thank God, after a few days in the hospital. Some
dental work, a small scar. I had bruises. We got off easy. Morgan's
truck was totaled. The cop was tired and made a typo on the accident
form. I paid a fine and didn't even get a mark on my out of state
license. The little traffic circle was notorious, I learned. I went
back and nailed reflectors all over the place.
Every afternoon I visited Jamie in the hospital, and we became close.
Two days after she was released and life was getting back to normal, I
took a walk during the break between lunch and dinner. Things had been
happening fast; I needed to slow down. I followed a stream through a
marshy area to a dry bank shaded by a tree where I stretched out and
listened to the sounds of birds and insects. It was hot and the sounds
began to still. A dragonfly darted back and forth above the stream.
Movement caught my eye. A snake, three feet long, was winding along the
opposite bank, unhurried, almost casual. A dark snake, unremarkable. It
struck, too fast to see. It was falling back to the ground before I
could focus, the dragonfly in its mouth. The snake caught the dragonfly
in midair without coiling. Impossible. The most athletic move I've ever
seen. It was as though the universe had stopped, allowed the snake to
strike, and then started again for everyone else.
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