Thursday October 6, 2016. Clive Greenbelt Nature Trail. Less than a half mile from the 3 mile marker from the east. Mary is riding her road bike. I am about 1.5 meters behind her. It is 545 am and still dark.
We cross the bridge that the gentleman from Great Britain failed to cross and plummeted to his death. Now we are curving to the left as the trail makes a U shaped jaunt to remain creek side and not cut through a playground area. And there she was. A dark grey opossum cross the trail moving slowly.
Mary got over to the right the best she could but bicycle and marsupial collide. No sound is made. Mary's bike stays upright and does not even wiggle. She lost no speed and successfully makes the next curve.
I watch her as all this unfolds, hoping that she does not crash. But in the bottom of my eye I see the opossum appear to explode. It stopped and turned 90 degrees but a black and white fireball erupts over the woodland creature, debris going two feet into the air.
My first thought was "what a dirty bastard!" My brain was telling me that it was leaves and sticks flying off our forest friend. But then I realized it was her babies abandoning ship or getting knocked off. No sound, no cries or shrieks. No blood on the trail or opossum or Mary or the bike's tires.
If this was a horror movie all that debris would have turned into thousands ov evil bats and consumed us. But it was not.
I hope Mama and her pups are ok. I am sure that the jogger approaching us shortly afterwards and the walker behind us would have stopped to helped them.
BTW, Mary hit a raccoon on Monday. It stopped and hissed at her.
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