It jumped out of the bushes in the pitch black. I was preoccupied with paying attention to the uprooted sidewalk tiles and fallen chestnuts and I did not see so much as a shadow but felt the round mushiness of its body under my front tire, heard a squeak through my cry of "OH SHIT".
Then I kept riding.
I've been talking and thinking so much about all the hurt that could be avoided by confronting human selfishness, and yet I was too freaked out to see if the little guy had made it. My mom said rats are really strong and it's probably just fine. But maybe it was a squirrel, I don't know.
