Traffic was worse than usual, school aren´t back from their holidays and so everyone has decided to cut across Lisbon to get to the beach. It´s hot again as per usual and my car was made in the pre air conditioned days. I’m sitting gazing at a red traffic light, at the front of the queue sweating like a twelve year old in a room full of peadophiles, when in the corner of my eye I see something head across the road.
She didn’t wait for the red light, didn't press the button for the crossing, just picked a gap in the crossing traffic and took off. Where were the parents? Nobody else around to stop her but then it’s too late.
The driver had no chance, he struck her with a glancing blow, and a small body is flung over the bonet and back across the road. With luck she would have survived, but the odds were against her. The final blow, a large Cherokee Jeep coming the other way, crushed her in the opposite direction and into the tarmac, just another victim of the mighty automobile.
In 15 seconds, while my light was red, a tiny butterfly fluttered by and landed on my windscreen, I turn the wipers on and it dies too.
It’s strange what you notice on the way to work!!!!
