My girlfriend lived in Indy not too far from my apartment on the North side. She worked 2 part time jobs (and 1 non-paying full time). She was trying to start a career as a financial advisor. It was going slow. Too slow.
She was 13 years younger and our relationship ran both hot and cold. I was hot for her and she, in turn, would give me the cold shoulder. But I adored her all the same and kept up the chase.
While working as operations manager and purchasing agent for the tool company, I had become friends with quite a few of our vendors, one in particular. A young lady from Western (upstate) NY. She sold paper products out of Amherst, NY. not too far from where my father's side of the family lived. Now... this was all way before Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Skype and even smart phones. We would talk via her company's 1-800 number or after 11 o'clock when the long distance rates were cheapest. Hey Kids... have we progressed? I would say... but I digress!
This is actually the story of a baseball game... in a town known to party like mad on Opening Day. In 1995, the Cincinnati Reds Home Opener was against the Chicago Cubs... my two favorite teams!
My buddy Timmy talked me into meeting up with him and a mutual buddy in Cincy for this opening day match up. The plan was simple... hit the bars... go to the game... hit the bars again. Well, seemed simple. Proved dangerous.
I drove down a bit early and found parking. Waited about an hour for them to catch up with me at our first rendezvous. Timmy, Matt and I all have the gift of gab ... so even as Cubs fans... it was easy to make new friends everywhere we went in downtown Cincy, right before the Reds Opening Game of the season. Walking from bar to bar and later heading to the stadium... we got phone numbers (we would never use) and details about the best places to hit up after the game. Home town fans all in good cheer!
At Riverfront, our seats ended up being behind the Cubs dugout on the third base side. Our Cubs admiration was not lost on some of the die hard Reds fans in the area and we took some well deserved ribbing... but we gave back as much as we took... as I remember. It's baseball... not some NFL Raiders/Chargers game where knives and guns decide who is the best and the baddest fans.
Now the year before in 1994, MLB had a strike. It was so bad... they cancelled THE WORLD SERIES! No one cancels the World Series.. well.. maybe a world war. But not players... or team owners... but alas... baseball descended down the rabbit hole. The big question was whether the fans would come back to the ballpark? They did. It was a full house as I remember. But I also remember that around the fifth inning (or so)... a majority of fans pulled out toilet paper rolls and tossed them onto the field en masse. It was awesome! Prepared before hand. Quietly kept under wraps.. and pulled off beautifully.
Dear Players and Owners:
You wanna cry?
Here! Wipe your ^#$# tears!
~ Signed
The Fans of MLB
The Game ended and we headed to the bars downtown. Every place we were directed to before the game turned out to be a hot spot. Pretty girls, cheap drinks, music and more. We partied for about 3 more hours before we all decided to turn tail and run back to Indiana. I was popped, but had started to repair with water and coffee.
Driving alone, I headed back to Richmond through Brookville Indiana. Small town Brookville is featured in my classic River Days: A Coming of Age Tale... MiddleAge. Available on Amazon... Buy it!
All well in Brookville, driving past all the usual landmarks, stops, hangouts and river. Now... just head up the 101 toward Richmond. 30 minutes, at most!
I used to play tennis with Kelly Kelly, a beautiful young lady who I had met in the Brookville area during a past canoe adventure. The tennis courts we played on were just on the north side of town. As I passed them, I remember smirking a bit. I did not realize danger was just past the next curve.
On a hill, on the east side of the highway was a 6-8 point buck. He looked down at me in my Nissan Sentra... made eye contact... then lowered his head and charged at the car! WTF??? It all went into slow motion, even as fast as the incident happened in real time. He hit the passenger door. Flew above the windshield, tapping it with a hoof or two... like F^%( ing Rudolph the Red Nosed (flying) Reindeer... and landed on the other side of the highway. Amazingly, I was still in control of the fast moving vehicle... Wait! No... I wasn't! The car made two complete spins on its own. (Praise the Lord! No traffic, either way.) Finally landing tail end first into a rocky ravine off the shoulder of the road.
Now people say when you are having a near death experience, you will see your entire life pass before your eyes. I will confess this... I remember seeing life events up to and including the combination to the locker I used during my sophomore year in high school (12... 27... 34) 20 years prior.
The deer got up... stumbled a bit.. and then ran off peeing blood. It sprinted away as best it could. I was trapped in the car by a seat belt that wouldn't unbuckle (but probably saved my life!)
The first person to stop and make contact was some woman who claimed to work for the highway patrol... and she'd go get a cop! Yikes! Day just got better! Not!
The second vehicle was a pick up truck with two good old boys asking if I wanted the deer. "No! Kill it.. and the rest of his whole family!" They parked the truck on the opposite shoulder, took out a couple rifles (support the NRA) and lit out on foot after Bambi's Dad!
What followed was a long line of gawkers and rubberneckers. The last being the driver of a truck cab who stopped, got out and actually walked down the ravine to check on my situation in the car.
"You bleeding?" ..."You hurt?" ..."You have any chains to pull yourself out?"
" No... don't think so!" ... "Just my pride!"... "Chains? What?"
Well... Mr. Trucker could instantly tell that I was in no shape to get out of that ravine by myself... or to be driving at all, for that matter... ("How many beers you been drinking?") So, he went back to his truck, opened a side compartment and pulled out his own set of chains. Placed them under my car... and dragged me out.
"Now listen! I live up the hill.. the house with the blue and red reflectors at the end of the driveway. I want you to go to my driveway and stay there until you pull yourself together!"
"Yes, Sir!"
And I did. I found the driveway. Pulled off far from the road and waited a good 30 - 40 minutes to clear my head and think about what all had happened! As I sat on his property assessing life and death, I watched a parade of highway patrol cars racing back and forth, up and down Highway 101 looking for the 'mysterious, vanishing deer clobbering' vehicle.
I made it to Richmond by sun down. Stopped at Mom's house to report what had happened... she seemed genuinely concerned. I then headed straight to the Townhouse.
First call was to my Indy girlfriend. I told her about how I was hit by a deer and now felt lightheaded from the experience. She told me that it was her night off and she was heading downtown to go dancing with some friends. "Just... take it easy... take some Tylenol. You'll be fine! Look.. I gotta go!"
Second call was to Miss Amherst NY. I told her the whole story... beers, bars and all... Her reply? "You get to the emergency room and get checked out now! Don't lay down... don't go to sleep!" (I told her I was tired and wanted a nap!) "I am going to call back in one hour! If you do not answer the phone.. I will call an ambulance and the police to break down your door! Do you hear me..."
Guess which one I married?
Now, what exactly did I learn from the flying deer adventure? Life is fragile, but extremely livable! And be sure... to count your blessings everyday... especially when you are prone to make a bad decision or two.
Go Cubs!
Finis
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