My Car Accident

So last night I was driving home at 1:30 a.m. In the fog. On a narrow road. I was probably speeding. Sounds like a nice stew of circumstances, right?

Out of nowhere this gray and white cat darted at my car, seemingly bent on throwing himself under my driver side tire.

"Shit-"

I jerked the wheel right. The cat kept coming. It was at this point that I remember experiencing the choice of whether or not I should just run him over. Almost simultaneously to that thought I felt awful for thinking it. I jerked the wheel right again, running my car into a ditch. 

Pumping the brakes, I slammed into a slab of concrete with a drainage pipe sticking through it. The sound of the impact was what I had always thought it would be; a sudden smack of metal, plastic, and concrete which, for an instant, consumed everything I could hear. Before I knew it I was stopped.

"Fuck."

A strange stillness ensued for but a second. Through it I saw the cat skittering away into the shadows.

I pulled my car onto the road and got out, flashing my hazards. It was like somebody had slit the Mort-Mobile's throat. Steam rose in the cold air, yellow in the flashing signals, as hot radiator fluid spilled across the concrete from my car's undercarriage. The sweetly humid smell of warm coolant was in my nose.

"Damn."

I got back in and finished the short remainder of my commute. The coolant light flashed, beeping very audibly three times.

"Really?" was my response.

I got home and hugged my cat, thankful he is both an indoor cat, and not nearly as stupid as myself or the feline involved. 

I went to bed.

Now my car is missing a quarter of its bumper. It looks as if it's grinning with a broken tooth. Unfortunately, the last thing my car needs is more "character".