Beware of the Midnight Cows

Driving through the dark desert landscape, he felt relief from the scorching heat and blinding sunlight of the day.  Though it was the main road north it was a single lane hardened by the sun and an occasional car or truck.  With no other traffic the 1961 Ford Fairlane was cruising up the straight road even though the brakes were barely working.  What could go wrong in the flat desert late at night?

A cow suddenly appeared in the headlights, then a second, and a third.  A herd was slowly crossing the road. When he hit the brake pedal, whatever remained of the brakes dissolved, and the pedal clunked flat to the floor as the car lurched forward even faster with no brake pad engaged.   Hitting one cow in the middle of nowhere after midnight would not have been easily survived by the cow, the car, or the driver, but now there were cows everywhere. They were big, slow giants, but they must have recognized that the headlights bearing down on them were not good. They started dancing with agile, quickened grace as the panicked driver desperately steered in, out and around each huge mass.  Layers of more brooding cows challenged the white-knuckled frenzy of the wide-eyed driver who was dazzled by the deftness of the cows and the unwieldiness of his old car.

Then abruptly there were no cows as the Ford careened through the other side of the herd. The night froze, but the wheels kept turning as the car gradually rolled to a stop hundreds of yards past the cows. Inertia, not brakes, stopped the vehicle.  He slowly stepped out of the car, paused for a moment, then started walking. He got faster until he started running, but halted suddenly as he groped for breath. He shook and dropped down on his knees.  His heart pounded as he finally caught his breath and quieted his heart. 

He calmly stepped back to the car, got in, turned the key, and headed North wondering how many cows he had missed.  As he picked up speed, he wondered what he would do if there were any more cows out there waiting to cross his road that night.

And there were.