26 March 2015

Walking with Harry: a Close Shave


I
’m just back from walking Harry in the early morning hours before the sun is properly up, and my adrenaline is still elevated a bit. We were coming back up Capitol on our way back home when—just in front of the MacDonald’s by Huber—some asshole damn near ran into us. I had to pull Harry back and jump back myself to avoid being hit. This person seemed to be focused on some piece of electronics he had in front of him—and it might have been a woman; it was dark—and never even noticed the presence of pedestrians on the sidewalk as he turned in to the drive-in lane of the fast-foodery. I couldn’t believe it. This character was still focused on whatever it was he had in front of him as he turned out of sight in his little white car. He showed no awareness whatsoever that he had damn near hit an old man walking his dog in the morning—and this is a time when pedestrians are out here in SW Portland. Not only dog-walking, but jogging, going to work, going to—well, probably not going to school yet—too early—but it’s not like there’s nobody out there. It’s not like at three in the morning when the late night pedestrians have retired and the early morning pedestrians aren’t up yet.
Whoever you are—I didn’t honk my nonexistent horn, I didn’t give you the finger—but consider this my metaphorical finger-horn. You, with your inattention and your car, could have injured me or my dog. And you didn’t even care.

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