June and Matt

“Hold me!” June said, sobbing, shaking.

Matt opened his arms, and June entered the safe space. He wrapped his warm, loving arms around her like a heated, weighted blanket. She was still crying but felt better. 

He was taller than her and broader, so her arms would wrap around him, but not at the moment. June had her arms folded under her, and her head rested in the center of Matt’s chest as they stood on the side of the road. It was a well-known place of comfort. It has always been a place she has felt safe for as long as she can remember.

Three hours ago, June was driving down the country road talking to Matt on speaker phone when a family of moose ran out of the woods, and two of the animals slammed into the driver’s door of her car. 

The force of the impact of the animals drove the first to hit the car through the driver’s side window. The second, much larger, hit the first with such force that her small SmartCar was pushed into the ditch on the side of the road. 

The phone and Matt were still connected, and June screamed as it happened. 

“I’m coming!” Matt said that as he ran out of the house and into his car. He knew where she was heading, so he followed her path at speeds that were not advisable on a dirt road in the rain. 

Thankfully, the temperature was in the mid-70s today. A warm February day for sure. Matt thought that if this stuff froze, it would take forever to get to her.

June regained consciousness half an hour later, and while she was out, Matt talked to her. 

“JUNE! JUNE! Are you hurt?”

“Huh, what happe… Oh my God!”

“What?” Mat yelled. As with June’s cell, his cell was connected to the car’s speakerphone. Matt pressed the pedal a little more. Maybe it was a dangerous move, but he needed to find her. 

“Matt.”

“Yes, right here. I’m on my way to you. How far down the road were you?” He asked, trying to keep her talking. He had no idea how injured she was, and keeping her talking seemed right.

“Road….. Uh, a bit.”

“I’ll be there soon. I called 911 and told them the road. They are on their way, too. Your phone sent me the GPS coordinates, which I gave to EMS. According to the map, I am 11 minutes away.”

“A deer is stuck in my side window, and its antler is in my arm. It doesn’t hurt, though, but I am covered in blood. I think it’s the deer’s blood, and it looks like the window cut its throat.”

“Tell me what you see around you.”

The car is on its side in a ditch. The front and passenger windows are cracked but not broken. I see water running. I’m in a ditch,” She started crying again, “I’m going to die in a ditch!” She screamed.

“NO YOU’RE NOT! I will not let you. Now, can you move?”

“No, the deer is pinning me against the seat, and I cannot release the seatbelt.”

“That’s actually a good thing. It means you will stay put and not fall out of the seat.”

For the next ten minutes, they talked about nothing in particular. Matt responded to whatever popped into her head. He suspected she had a concussion since she was out for half an hour, but he would never say that to her.

He saw lights up ahead. Since this was such a dark and desolate road, it had to be her. It seemed like the two minutes it took to get there was hours. He felt useless at the moment. 

When he reached the car, he saw the carnage. 

The car was destroyed. 

“I’m here.”

She honked the horn and he beeped in response.

“Get me out of here,” She yelled. His car was off, but he heard her clearly without the phone. He approached the car and saw three dead moose. The first one was stuck in the window, and the second and third hit with such force it snapped their necks. They were lying on the road. The force of the two in the road pushed the car into the ditch.

Matt heard the siren in the distance. This was their home turf, so they were not taking their time. He could not pull the moose out of the window, so he waited near the car. A minute or two later, the fire truck, an ambulance, and a sheriff arrived. The area looked like a battle zone. Moose bodies and blood were everywhere. Thanks to the rain, the blood did not pool; it spread everywhere.

The firefighters extracted the moose from the driver’s side window for the next fifteen minutes. EMS took over, and they pulled her out through the window. Laying her on the backboard, they examined her. A puncture wound, a mild concussion, a laceration on the left side of her head. Which was most likely caused by one of the three moose impacts.

Thankfully, as Matt left his car, the rain stopped. He stood next to the sheriff, and he spoke into his radio. 

“Yes. They are fresh. Send DOT with a large truck, and there are three full-grown moose: a male and two female. The tiger rescue can use them. This will save them a lot of money.”

“Tiger rescue?” Matt said.

“Yes. If DOT can determine whether the kill is fresh and the animal is intact, like these two,” Pointing to the two in the road, “They can drop one in the tiger cage, and the animals can be animals. The other one, well, not much can be done about it so that it will be incinerated.”

“At least something good is coming from this.”

Matt said again, “Wait, there’s a tiger rescue?”

“People in this state think having a tiger as a pet is cool. Until they act like tigers, then they call us, and we call animal control. They knock out the tiger and bring it to the rescue, who tries to rehabilitate it, but after being a pet all of its life, there is no way they can be dropped in the forest. So, they live the rest of their life in a cage. Granted, it is the nicest cage that can be created or funded by their limited budget, but it is a cage.”

“That is sad.”

Matt noted that he would look for the rescue place tomorrow and make a donation or something. He had no clue, but he now felt partly responsible for all the tigers living in captivity there.

June walked toward him, “They said I’ll live, but I need a shower. The blood from the deer covered me. I told them I felt like Carrie in that movie, and they had no idea what I was talking about. It made me feel so old.”

“Movie?” Matt asked.

“You’re only three years younger than me?”

Matt smiled, “I remember, just playing. Can you leave the area yet?”

“The fire and EMS gang gave me the green light and told me to see my doctor tomorrow. Actually, in the morning. You know, a few hours from now. They said I would be sore for a week or so and impressed the car tipped on its side and didn’t roll. Evidently, a tiny little car like mine is prone to flipping like a matchbox car that jumps the track.”

“You need a little bigger car.:

“I do. Any suggestions?”

“Well, after this incident, how about a hum vee?”

She laughed. “They are going to have the car towed to the dealer. I picked it up two months ago. I already talked to the insurance company, and it’s fully covered. So, I need to find another car,” she paused a second. “I think maybe it’s a Kia Soul, the same color. A bit bigger, but not too much.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Matt and June started walking back to his car, “Before you get in, I have an idea.”

He opened the hatch, and she saw a few cases of bottled water. Next to it was a backpack.

How about you strip a little, and I rinse you off? In the bag are a towel, a set of fleece pants, and a sweatshirt. 

June stripped to her underwear, and Matt poured a lot of very cold water on her. She felt cold, but it actually made her feel better. She dried off and put on the clothes. Putting her shoes back on, she sat on the back of the car as the sheriff walked over to them.

“Ma’am, here’s your info back. I see nothing to warrant any of this was your fault. You were driving below the speed limit and quite safe. The flock of moose lept out of the woods to jump over the road and hit your car. One is in the window, the others hitting the first, and the back of your car. As far as I am concerned, this investigation is over. Is there anything you need to remove from the car?”

She returned her license, registration, and insurance and handed it to Matt. He put it on the driver’s seat through the window. 

“A bag and a box in the trunk is all. My cell phone is somewhere in the car also.”

Matt said, “Turn on the car and the heater. I’ll get your junk.”

The sheriff walked back to the group of first responders as they cleaned up in prep for leaving as the tow truck arrived. It quickly pulled the car out of the ditch, and Matt emptied the trunk, looked in the back and under the front passenger seat, and found the phone. He looked in every cubby, found nothing else of consequence, returned to the car, and dropped it all in the back.

He said, “OK, got it all cleaned out. Trust me, it’s totaled.”

June exited his car and looked at the bag and the box sitting in the back. Matt handed her her phone. She smiled and completely lost it. Not just crying or sobbing.

Matt opened his arms, and June entered the safe space again. She was shaking again, but this time she was cold. He wrapped his warm, loving arms around her like that old and familiar heated, weighted blanket. 

The first responders looked in their direction. They were waiting for it all to hit her. Once it did, she would be fine. Some of them smiled, knowing she had someone there she trusted completely. She was still crying but felt better.

“You’re the best brother in the universe.”