Wapsi Square Forum

Just this week, as I was driving the bus for work, a squirrel was going across the street. I slowed down. It started going off to the right side, away from where I was headed, then suddenly turned around and darted across the street. I slowed down some more, and it ran under the nose of the bus as it was almost across. I was hoping I had missed it, looked in my left mirror, and saw the squirrel upside down next to the curb (it was a one-way street). It jerked and screeched three times (I always drive with the window fully open, so I heard it even though the bus was now past it), then jumped up and finished running into the island between the two sides of the road to climb into a tree.

As amused and bewildered as I was at this behavior, I was glad, at least, that I had not run over it.

Sounds like you missed hitting it with the tires or anything else substantial enough to do significant injury, and clipped it lightly enough to tumble it without injury.

Dad did that to a cat many years ago: it ran off the right side of the road from under a parked car, ran under the side of the car in front of us, between the tires, came out between the back tires, went under the front of the van, and came out between the left-side tires . . . untouched. It never even slowed down! (We're pretty sure something was chasing it.)

We also knew someone who was hit by a deer . . . it came off the bank at the side of the road, bounced once in the ditch, and plowed right into the side of the car! (Again, we're pretty sure something was chasing it.) (IIRC, the deer ran away.)

--FreeFlier