2001-04-14 - 3:08 a.m.

My Lucky Day

A couple days ago I had a very lucky day.

What happened? Absolutely nothing, and that's what was lucky about it.

It was just after sunset, and I was in my car, heading home to the Hamster Palace, only about a quarter mile away.

Twilight is my favorite time of day. I love the deep blue color of the sky as the sun disappears behind the mountains, the purple cast that the dying light gives to everything and the line of fiery red along the western horizon. Supposedly dawn is just as beautiful, but I'll always prefer sunset.

Although I love twilight, I know it's one of the worst times to be driving. In the half light it's hard to distinguish objects and sometimes my eyes can play tricks on me. The straight black-and-white of night illuminated by headlights seems much less treacherous.

So, it was twilight as I headed toward the Hamster Palace.

What transpired next happened so fast that I didn't have any time to react.

Suddenly, two kids on a bicycle appeared right in front of my car, facing me. One kid was peddling, the other was riding on the handlebars. Both were dressed in dark clothes and there were no lights or reflectors of any kind on the bicycle. It's obvious that the kid peddling was having trouble controlling the bike - he was weaving all over the place. It looked like I was going to hit them head on, but suddenly they lurched to the left, missing my bumper by about half a foot. And before I could react, they were behind me.

It happened so fast I didn't have time to be frightened or angry. I didn't have time to even start to reach for the brake pedal. The two kids careening down the street just flickered past me like an image on a movie screen. I wondered, did I really just see that? Was it real?

But it was real. And If that bike had been another foot to the right, I would have hit them head-on. I could well imagine the sickening impact, and my life would be changed forever. I don’t want to think about what it would have been like, hurting those two kids even if they were acting like reckless idiots. Even if I was legally blameless, it's something that would haunt me for years.

It's times like this that I might almost wish that I believed in God, a higher power. It would be a comfort to know that I missed those kids because I was meant to miss them, that there wasn't a chance I was going to hit them. It would be nice to have the faith that everything that occurs happens for the greater good and was part of a larger plan.

But I know that's not true. All you have to do is pick up a newspaper and you'll read all sorts of stories about people who didn't have a lucky day. Sometimes they bring the problems on themselves, like the chronic drunk driver, or sometimes they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is no reason that I'm not there in that newspaper with those other unlucky people.

No reason other than plain dumb luck.

Now THAT is scary.