Do you have the kind of life where if something is going to happen, it will happen in the extreme? 

I do. 

From my place, there are about three different ways to get to where I really want to get to. 

There is one that I do a little less than the others. 

It crosses a few roads. 

There is one specific road that it crosses. 

The road has been closed for two seasons. 

They are working on the bridge that sits adjacent. 

For two seasons, you could ride across the road as if it did not exist. 

One Saturday in the fall, they opened the road. 

I rode across it on Sunday morning. 

Unaware. 

Halfway across the road, I saw the side of a silver car, just above the driver’s front wheel. 

I hit it. 

I went across the hood and landed on my feet on the other side. 

I don’t know why. 

I don’t know how. 

I never stopped moving. 

I got back to the other side of the car, picked up my bike, and started riding again. 

As if nothing happened. 

My handlebars at a seventy-degree angle. 

…And a piece of my shin hanging off. 

‘Hiding pain is a behaviour animals developed long ago in the evolutionary process. This was necessary to protect themselves from predators during times of injury or sickness.’ 

Haha, I cut and pasted that. 

Oh, man. 

It all happened so fast. 

My memory is kind of spotty. 

I remember it was loud. 

I remember a few people yelling. 

But what happened next, I remember perfectly. 

It happened in slow motion. 

On the other side of the road, there is a ‘Chess Park.’ 

There was a large tournament going on. 

…In complete silence. 

I looked over, nobody was looking at their Chess Boards. 

They were all looking over in my direction, aka, me. 

A woman slowly stood up from her chess table. 

She started to clap. 

Big, slow, loud claps. 

Her eyes looked like the eyes on the spiral-eyed emoji. 

Then someone else joined her. 

Then someone joined them. 

Until I had the whole tournament on their feet. 

I don’t think they knew what to do. 

I did. 

…A little nod, a little acknowledgment, and keep on riding. 

‘Checkmate’ 

Insert Rook emoji here. 

‘There is another way to ride.’ 

…haha, not this way though.