The Sacrificial Fawn

   “Are you ok miss?” I said as I roll down the passenger window just before getting on the 101.

   A woman with deep eyes and a white sheet draped around her revealed her face. “Can you ride me to San Luis Obispo?”

   “If you mean give you a ride, yeah sure,” I said then murmured. “I’ve given rides to much worse.”

   “Thank you,” she said.

   “Hold on, let me move some stuff. I do paper delivery and sometimes make a mess. I’ll just toss it in the back and we are good. Is that a backpack under your sheet? Maybe toss it in the back?”

   “No please.”

   “Okay, I’ll just put the seat back.” I opened the door as she sat placing her bare feet on the still trashy floorboard. “Where are your shoes?”

   “I don’t need them.” She said as I merged onto the 101.

   “Are you ok, an attractive woman like you should not be out on the streets this late.”

   “I am fine.” She replied as we drive past the Marriott.

   “That was my last stop,” I said pointing. “I almost hit a deer family coming out into the parking lot. I mean I would have only injured one of them but that type of thing has been happening all week.”

   “What is that?”

   “Almost hitting deer. I’ve never hit a deer in my life, and I grew up in the Northwest. But in the past week, I’ve almost hit several deer driving the surface streets. I’ve had to swerve each time.”

   “You wish no harm to animals.”

   “Where in SLO where you headed?” I asked.

   “Near the pyramid.”

   “If you mean the cemetery, I live near there. I like your accent. Where are you from?”

   After briefly hesitating she replied: “I am from France.”

   “Je peux parle Francaise.”

   ”Je suis un Ange de combat qui est descendu dans votre avion pour vous protéger et vous inspirer et vous aider à réaliser votre véritable darma.”

   “I only speak a little. Talk about almost hitting animals,” I said pointing to the frontage road along the Freeway. “Just the other day, I was going a little too fast down that road and some cat was sitting right in the middle looking right at me. So I swerved to keep from hitting him and almost rolled my car.”

   “That would not be good.” She said as she combed her blonde hair with her hand smiling at me.

   “You must be visiting here?”

   “Yes.”

   “You will love it here. I’ve only lived here like six years but it has the best climate. I know because I have been to all fifty states; And every major city in the U.S. at least six times.”

   “What for?”

   “It was just a gig for an advertising agency. I would drive all over to take pictures of their products in the stores.”

   “Yes, I like to travel.”

   “It was nice for a while, but I got sick of being on the road so much. I like it here on the central coast. I want to retire here and do some writing. Jack Kerouac lived here for a time. Do you know of him?”

   “Yes, I have read ‘On the Road’ at least three times.”

   “I only read it once, but also loved it and wouldn’t mind reading it again. This is a great community of writers. I have been going to this monthly writing workshop in hope of writing my novel.”

   “You sound like a writer or an artist.” She said as she flashed me her warm smile.

   “I have done photography all of my life, but mostly real estate photography. It just seems to go too far with technology these days. I just want to have an easy job and write fiction.”

   “It is good to follow your heart.”

   “One of the workshops I went to in SLO, I met Susan Tuttle. She was a mystery/crime author who unfortunately died recently.”

   “That is sad.”

   “I know, She was not that old and seemed healthy. I read part of one of her Crime novels, set here in SLO, learned much about strong character development. I only met her once but I will always remember that she said ‘I was a good writer.’”

   “Maybe you need to prove she was right.”

   “I hope so; anyway here we go over the summit.”

   “That looks dangerous.” She said looking with fear over the valley of San Luis Obispo.

   “This is the last and most dangerous part of my route each night,” I said as I put my little red Yaris in neutral to coast down the grade.

   I glance over and notice the sheet she was wrapped in began to reveal her naked legs. “You must be cold.”

   “I am fine.”

   “Yes, you are fine.” I thought turning my head back towards the road. “What did you say your name was?” I turned back to her; she was gone.

   “WHAT THE…”   Suddenly a small deer darted in front as I hit him knocking him to the pavement. Luckily, my airbag did not deploy otherwise I might have been coasting down a treacherous ravine blind. I quickly pulled over to the first emergency turn-off to remove the dead deer from the road. I got out of my car but it was too far up the grade, so I called 911.

   “Yes, operator. I just hit a deer coming down the grade in San Luis. He’s still on the road and it’s not safe for anyone coming down.”

   “Someone just called it in already. Are you alright sir?”

   “I think so,” I said looking out over the edge of the highway into the deep canyon with only a thin metal line of guardrail. “It sure is a good thing I did not swerve. This is the first deer I’ve ever hit.”

   “You were lucky.”

   “Yeah, otherwise I would have been on the news.”

   “Maybe someone is looking out for you.”

   I walked to the passenger car door, opened it, and saw a white feather on the seat. I grabbed it and held it up. “Maybe someone is.”