Comments (4)

By Neil, January 29, 2010 9:53 PM

Many strange things have happened to me during my 35 years. One particular strange happening took place when I was still driving a bicycle as my main mode of transportation.

In those days, I pedaled all around Kokomo with my friend Jeremy Kaye. We mostly liked looking at CDs, so our destinations would usually be the music stores in Markland Mall and Kokomo Mall or a Karma store. However, on this occasion, we headed to Kmart.

At that time, a Kmart store was directly east of Markland Mall. We would need to cross US 31, which is a four lane highway through Kokomo. For a reason that I have forgotten, we did not cross the highway at an intersection that day. Instead, we crossed about a quarter mile south of the nearest intersection.

Jeremy crossed first, and made it to the opposite side of the highway with his bike in good time. I was a bit slower crossing to the median due to traffic, but I was not nearly as slow as I was crossing from the median to the other side of the highway due to a completely different reason.

A single candy bar does not, usually, cause people bodily harm. However, if the candy bar is traveling inside an automobile, tossed out of a window and carefully plotted to impact with a “tender place,” it is now a weapon—avoid impact if possible. Unfortunately, I speak from experience.

When I arrived at the median, I quickly lifted my bike to the other side. I then climbed over the median and stood up. It seemed to come out of nowhere. I doubled over immediately. Jeremy, who was still standing on the other side of the highway had not a clue what had happened to me.

I do not remember how long it took me to gain my composure, and I do not remember anything that happened after impact that day, except for Jeremy laughing.