Car Chase-contest entry

In the one horse town, sitting through a red light on a deserted midnight street is almost embarrassing.  There's constant second guessing and self-chiding, "don't be a wuss, everybody within two miles has been asleep for hours, nobody will see you run the light."  One particular time, however, cowardice paid off.  Milliseconds before the nerve endings in my right leg lifted my foot from the brake, she drove by.  I couldn't believe anyone was out this late, not here in boredomville.  Let alone her. 

But there she was.  I'd recognize her dad's car anywhere, having sprained my neck many times attempting to see if it was parked in its usual hiding place.  Not only was it her, but in the second of illumination my car's headlights provided as she crossed my path I could see she was alone.  And, apparently in a hurry.  "Must be trying to beat dad's curfew" I thought.  If I can catch her before she pulls into her folks' driveway, maybe I can talk her into re-enacting the scene we created the last time cars were involved.  That time we were both in the same car.   

In the time it took for my late-night-fogged brain to assess the situation, she had put some distance between us.  Understand, all the events thus far described took place in the matter of five seconds.  I still had a red light to contend with.  Testosterone trumped the fear of a traffic citation, and by the end of the eighth second I was in hot pursuit.  I don't know how far a car travels in a few seconds at 55 miles per hour.  It's either pretty far or she was doing at least 70.  And as soon as the old wagon could get there, so was I.

Those wide red taillights kept getting smaller.  I was certain I could gain ground at the curve, but....DEER!!!!  She went by them so fast she startled them.  Their reaction time put them squarely in my path as I exited the turn.  Those previously mentioned right-leg nerve endings flung my size 13 from the accelerator to the whoa pedal in world record time.  I'm sure the front bumper scraped the pavement as the nose of that station wagon dropped under lockup braking conditions. 

"GET OUT OF THE WAY DEER, I'VE GOT A SEDAN TO CATCH!!"  Path clear, I'm getting back to speed like an F-14 on a catapult.  Through a few deer-free curves and a 35 MPH speed zone, almost within reach.  A few blinks of the high-beams, a couple blasts of the horn and.....she's gotta see me!?!?  "No, don't speed up, it's ME.  Don't you recognize the car?  Don't you smell the hormones?"  #@%&@  She's only a short distance from home. 

I'm drafting her like Earnhardt, flashing lights and honking.  Wonder why this young girl, all alone on a country road, won't pull over for the guy in the car that came flying up from behind and is now maniacally tailing her, signaling like a fourth of July parade?  Amazing, the thought processes of the teenage male brain. 

We're within sight of mom and dad's, I'm gonna lose.  Desperation move time.  Cease all ridiculousness and pull off on the berm.  IT'S WORKING!!  She's actually turning around....

Thus ended the car chase.  The rest of the story is "off topic".   

     
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