I looked at him, then at the floor for a moment, confused. Then, “It’s down,” I said. The clutch and the brake were still pressed as far down as they would go from my belated emergency stop. James took the car out of gear, and I let the pedals up. The airbag was already deflating and we sat for a moment in silence, looking at the cracks across the glass in front of us, radiating out from the central point of impact. A spider’s web of cracks, you could say.
I stared at my hands, unable to stop the shaking. My breath wasloud and uneven. James stared straight ahead, his face blank, his hands wedged between his legs.
“We killed a rabbit,” I whispered.
“A rabbit?” James said. “That was a hundred times the size of a rabbit.”
“A badger?” I suggested.
“It was too tall for a badger.”
“A deer? Oh no.”
The sign for deer crossing wasn’t for another mile or so, but they could definitely be on the road here instead. A deer could easily have jumped out in front of us. “What if it’s still alive and it’s injured?” I asked. “What if it’s got a fawn waiting for it?” It was the right time of year.
I wanted James to say, “I think it will be alright; we weren’t going fast. I’m sure it will get up in a minute and run off with just a few bruises.” But he didn’t and we sat for a moment longer, until what James actually did say was:
“We’d better go and see what you’ve done.”
I watched with dread as he opened his door and got out. As he exited, a toy spider lay harmlessly where he had sat.
James is scared of spiders. I used to find it endearing, now I just found it ridiculous. I’d put it there ages ago, for another occasion as auspicious as this one and then, for one reason or another, hadn’t sprung my trap. I’d forgotten about it until the moment it fell from the visor.
My legs were wobbly as I made my way round to the front of the car. They nearly went from under me when I saw James crouched over a shape in the road. Fragments from the headlight cover lay around, shattered like glass, reflecting the glow of the uncovered lamp in a thousand tiny sparkles. The bumper hung loose, touching theground. The shape had two legs and ears at the side of its head, and it was wearing clothes. It was a man. I screamed.
The man groaned.
“He’s still alive!” I said, almost hysterical with the gladness of not having orphaned a fawn and the terror of having hit a human. “I’ll call 999.”
James held up his hand. “Great idea if you want to go to prison,” he said. “They’ll want to breathalyze you and you’ve been drinking.”
“I only drank a bit. I was careful.”
“You want to test that theory against a breathalyzer, do you? I saw you knocking back half a bottle.”
“No, I didn’t. We have to call an ambulance,” I said, but I was nervous about a breathalyzer. I had been careful, I was sure, but my calculations weren’t scientifically tested.
Maybe my panic would metabolize it more quickly and bring the reading down? Maybe they’d take that into account when they decided if I’d been safe to drive? Maybe, maybe, maybe.
“There’s someone coming!” I yelped, as headlights appeared over the hill a mile or so away.
“Turn the lights off, then help me get him in the car,” James said.
“What? We can’t move him. You’re not supposed to move injured people.”
“Get him in the car. We’ll take him to hospital.” He grabbed the man’s upper half, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. “Daisy!” The headlights flashed again, and I grabbed the man’s legs.
“Hush, hush,” I said as he cried out in pain. “It will be alright. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
We turned our lights off and stuffed him in, then waited for the other car to appear at the top of the slope, my heart racing. But thecar didn’t materialize and a moment later, I saw the beams heading off to the right.
I exhaled. “They’re going to Little Beadington.” I pointed at the lights as they faded into the distance.
I heard James let out a “phew,” then he made his way to the front of the car and pulled the bumper fully off. “Help me clear this up,” he said.
Whoever would have thought that in a match between a human and a car, especially a high-end model, the car would have come off so badly? Together, we picked up the pieces of the smashed headlight. A satchel, presumably the man’s, lay in the road as well. James picked it up and flung it at me.
“I’ll drive,” James said and made his way to the driver’s seat.
