Stranger in the Woods

Chapter 5

The driver of the logging truck came into the work trailer with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand.  I rose, shook his hand and thanked him for being willing to talk to me.  He was a large man, well over three hundred pounds and probably in his forties, but after shaking my hands and sitting down his eyes darted a bit around the room in an awkward, childish way as if he had just been called into the principal’s office.  He introduced himself as Brad, and then he coughed a deep liquid cough couple times and then took a drink of his coffee.

“Bad cold.”  Brad said.  “It’s the fourth one this year.  Can’t shake it.  Even took medicines for it the second time around and it didn’t do a thing.  Was sick only two days later.”   He coughed again; another liquid cough with a gravelly wheeze at the end.  He took another sip of coffee.  

“Yeah, this is the season for it that is sure.”  I said, hoping that I would not catch whatever he had.  “First off, I’m not here to drill you.  This really isn’t about my article.”  The driver sighed with apparent relief.  “You aren’t in trouble or anything like that, but I am interested in what happened this morning.  It is a personal interest.”

“Was that your horse?  I’m really sorry about that, man.”  He had a sincere inflection in his voice.  His skittish glances around the room seemed to have subsided and he finally let his gaze fall upon me.

“No not mine, but, well, did you see the horse before you hit it?”  I asked.

Brad took another drink of coffee and set the empty cup down on the table.  “Well, I sort of did.  I was coming back from my first run and it had just snowed.  I was really watching the road closely to see if I could see any ice patches.  From the corner of my eye I saw something large and white ahead of me come down off the incline.”

“The side with the trees and ditch or the drop off side?”  I asked.

“The ditch side.  It came down fast, like it had run down the hill towards the road.  Real fast, insanely fast.  It was coming down the hill, you see.”

“That makes sense.”

“Yeah, well, it was moving fast.  I looked up and saw it.  It had just made it onto the road.  Just a big, white blur really.  I would have had to cross the yellow line, and I was about to swerve, instincts, you know…it turned and faced me and then put its head down like it was going to charge me or something.  I tried to stop, but it was nearly impossible.  Plus I wasn’t going to put the truck off the road for an animal, especially when it might mean that I would do more damage to the truck.  I hit it right in the head, or should say that it hit me, because it was going to charge me, and I was really not wanting to hit it.  It’s complicated here with the equipment and all...”  

Brad paused and I sat silently too.  I did not want to taint the flow of his narrative.  I did not want to sidetrack him and make him censor himself.  His mouth went tight and he looked sad.  His eyes were downcast as he was mentally recalling the event.  

“…and it flung up onto the front of the truck.  I thought it was going to go through my windshield, but it just rolled over the hood and then flopped over onto the side of the road.  I wasn’t speeding, but I was going at a decent speed to make it up the hill.  I was just stunned and didn’t know what to do.  I had hit deer before, but they were always fast and just an accident.  It seemed like this horse had turned toward me like it was going to attack my huge truck.  That just doesn’t seem like what an animal normally does, you see?  I’m still confused about it.”

“Did you stop and look at the horse?”

“Oh, yeah, but it was dead.  Must have been killed the second I hit it.”  Brad said.  “It was a big horse, that’s for sure.  Shame it happened.  I felt terrible about it.  I like horses.”

“Did you notice anything strange about it?”

“Other than it being the biggest darned horse that I’ve ever seen.  Almost looked like one of those beer horses, those Budweiser kind.”  He said.

I shook my head in agreement, thankful that he hadn’t noticed anything too strange.  

“But that thing could move. It wasn’t like a draft horse or anything.  I mean, it didn’t move like a working horse, but like a racing horse, like one of those wild ones you see in the Westerns.  The kind those Indians ride.  I don’t know what you call them.  Mustangs?  You know, but it was all white.”  Brad looked at me.  I could tell that his mind was still trying to sort out the confusion of the morning and the conflicting emotions he was feeling.  I felt awkward and did not know what to say.

I nodded.  “Anything else?”

“Nothing really.  I was just so shocked by it.  It was wild how it stopped.  The other one had kept going.  I was actu…”

“Other one?” I interrupted. My mouth gaped and I fought to not look too shocked, but I realized I failed at that miserably.  Brad looked at me oddly as if he then realized that I had been holding back information about the incident that I did not want him to know.  He paused, as if rolling around whether he should speak to me any further.  Thankfully, he did, but now he was talking with a bit more reservation in his voice.

 “Yeah, there was another one that had come down before the one I hit, I guess. I didn’t see it while I was driving.  I’m just guessing that it had come down before the other one did…the one I hit.  Like I said, I didn’t see it until I had stopped to look at the dead horse.  This other horse was standing at the other side of the road across from where the dead one was laying.  I guess it could have come down after I hit the other one.  I don’t know.  I’m just assuming.  I was kind of scared since the other one was gonna charge the truck.  I thought that maybe this one would charge me.  My mind was swimming and my heart was pumping so fast.  I can tell you I was really scared.  But it just looked at me and then went into the woods on the far side of the road.  Just disappeared down the incline and into the woods.”

I was in shock.  I sat there silently for a couple moments.  I felt like I was frozen, with a dumbfounded expression on my face.  Brad watched me, probably thinking I was an idiot.  “Did the other one look like the one you hit?”  

Brad shifted in his seat.  “Yeah, pretty much so.  I guess the same.  It was white too.  It was still sort of dark because it was so early and the trees made a lot of shadows.  It was big like the other one if that is what you mean.  Do you know whose horses those were?  I guess I should apologize.”  He said.  “I hope I don’t get sued or something.”

“No I don’t know who they belonged to.  I’ll let you know if I ever find out.  I don’t know if anything legal will come of it though.”  I then thought of something.  “Hey, is your truck still here?”

“Yeah, it’s outside by the shed.  You wanna see it?”  Brad coughed.

“I’d like that.”

We got up and Brad led me over across the loading yard to a long aluminum shed.  His truck was parked along its side.  It was not hooked up to a trailer.

“They are loading me now I guess.”  Brad said.  “I think they want me to use another truck until they check mine out.  Just in case.”

I could see some heavy denting along the front right side of the truck.  The hood was slightly crinkled up and part of the radiator grill was bent.  The front right headlight was gone.

“Looks like they are replacing my headlight at least.”  Brad said.

“Yeah.”  I looked at the front of the truck, but it had been cleaned of any signs of the animal, other than the physical damage to the truck.  I turned to Brad and shook his hand.  “Thank you for your time and your information.”  He thanked me back.

I walked to my car thinking about the cooler containing the ear of the Unicorn in the back seat.  My mind swam with the thought that somewhere in the woods that I was about to drive through was another one.  At least another one.  And who knew what else?