On my way home tonight, a mysterious something hit my car. I had no idea at the time what it was. I was driving past a not-so-nice neighborhood, near my rather nice neighborhood when the car shook and shimmied, and then I heard my driver's side rear window shatter.
At the time I thought maybe it was a ne'er-do-well trying to carjack me. So I got the heck out of there. After a quick mile or so drive to a gas station, I pulled in, and proceeded to calmly call the police, my family, and my insurance company.
I got a little freaked out waiting for the police to show, so I drove home to my warm, safe, house with its nice big well-lit garage. Missy, Marybeth and I circled the car examining it, but not actually touching it, in case it had been a person trying to do something bad. A police officer did eventually show, and took pictures.
I pointed out what looked like some whiskers stuck to the car window.
The officer agreed they looked like whiskers, not glass scratches, but said she wasn't about to touch them. I said I would, once she'd taken pictures. She did, and I did. Yep. Whiskers.
That relieved me, since I'm generally not the sort of person who wants to hurt other people. (Or animals, but if you gotta pick, animals are better.) Then she drove away to check out the scene, and to the best of her determination, it was a deer.
Who, plucky bastard that he was, got up, and left the scene. He's still out there somewhere.
Thankfully, this is more a pain in the ass than a tragedy. I've got good car insurance, and a small deductible. I didn't hurt any people. Tomorrow I'm going to take my car someplace to get repaired. It shouldn't take too long.
I'm grateful.