Why is that guy standing in the road?

Was the last thing I said out loud before I saw it.

I am driving two drunken suburban twenty somethings home after a good night in the taxi. I dont know if my name got on a list at yellow cab, but I was given a nice taxis two nights in a row. They both had cd players and got like 17mpg (yes this is a good thing). I was enjoying myself as I merged off of 279 south onto Banksville.

"Why is that guy in the road?!" I said as I started to slow down to merge over.

At that second, the Cadillac fancyville car that was in the left lane accelerated and moved around the truck in front of him, into the right lane.

I dont know how much to describe what we saw, but I heard it and felt it as well. We pulled over and the drunken kids that on first impression I had zero respect for were total heros. They checked his breathing and talked to the man. I drove up to the Cadillac with my doors still open, to make sure that he didnt go anywhere, assuming that he was as drunk as everybody else leaving the southside at 1:30 am.

The kids said that the man was only making animal noises. After I walked back to them, I realized that they hadnt moved the guy into the parking lot, but it was actually how far he flew after being hit.

Im not sure if he was destitute, or drunk, or wanted to kill himself, but Im pretty sure the man is no longer with us today. And to put this into perspective, Amy works with kids who have seen family members shot dead in front of them. There are people coming home from Iraq or who have been to Vietnam that have seen things that make this seem so trival and tame.

We are all lucky to be alive. Enjoy it.