Robbed

Thursday was a beautiful Autumn evening.  Chill to the air, just past full Hunter's Moon, dry with a slight wind from the West.

Great night for a commute.

Riding East on Rt 4, a well lit, straight road with wide shoulders, I'm making good time thanks to the favorable wind.  I should make it to Christine's in just over 30 minutes.  

I love riding at night.  There is a certain peace to it.

She's not, oh my god, YES SHE IS!  

FUCK!!!!

The beige sedan abruptly turns without signaling into my path. There is no time to do anything as my front wheel slams into her quarter-panel.  I'm airborne.  The force of the impact has sent me perpendicular to the road, tumbling sideways across the tarmac.  

My bike lands on the grass, expelling everything not bolted on to it (pump, bottles, headlamp).

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, you're not going to call the cops are you"?  

I've already dialed 911.

"What is your emergency"  they ask.

"I was hit by a car"

"You were hit by a car'?!!

"Yes, I was"

Emergency responders show up.  I know the officer.

EMTs shuffle me off to ambulance.  'Rich is the best at bandaging, he not just good at driving"  the EMT filling out the paperwork tells me.  Rich wraps me up like a mummy but is ingenious in how he bandages my knuckles.

They ask me if I want to go to the hospital, "we can't make you, but if you decline we need yo to sign a release"

I don't need stitches, and nothing is broken, so I decline.

Second call was to Christine.  She knew why I was calling.

Waiting in her car warming, waiting for the police report in disbelief.  How could this even happen there?

Officer "J" gives the driver her tickects, she is crying.

He comes up to the passenger window with the accident report for me.

"I hope you weren't planning on getting rich off this" he says.

"I sighted her for driving a car with a suspended registration, no insurance, and failure to yield the right of way to a cyclist",

I am angry.  Not even so much about the act of violence that she committed against me but what she has done to my psyche.

I am afraid.  I don't want to ride my bike at night.  She has stolen freedom from me.  

This is not the first time I've been hit but it has effected me the most deeply.

I don't want any compensation; I want to be who I was at 7:15 PM Thursday night.