I decided to leave East Hollywood a little after Midnight to start a 6 hour drive to my Mothers in Salinas for
Thanksgiving. I like driving at night and I figured I’d rather do the drive now than in the morning. I took a cat’s claw
crowbar and a flashlight, popped the hood of my ’68 Plymouth and pulled the linkage out of first gear. Behind the
wheel I shifted through the 4 gears on the column making sure they didn’t jam, put the car back into first and left LA.
Between Hollywood and Salinas there is a town called Lost Hills. I calculate this as my halfway point and I always stop
to get gas there. I pulled into the Lost Hills gas station around three AM. I thought I would play with the automated pay
system. I knew I didn’t have any money in my account but I wanted to see what would happen. I was rejected with a
message that said “unable to authorize”, so I went inside to use the bathroom. It was a gas station that sold beer and
snacks. The fog was very dense and nobody was really on the road. There was only one little Mexican guy working
and he followed me into the bathroom. He removed the “slippery when wet” folding sign. “Slippery when wet” was also
written in Spanish and German. He walked around taking care of the clean up duties of the bathroom. Lost Hills is an
isolated town and this might be one of the few jobs around. I stood at the urinal and took a piss.
After I finished the little Mexican Guy followed me out and I gave him, “ten bucks on pump seven”.
I stood in the fog and pumped the gas into my car. I was pretty hungry and I didn’t have much money but on top of the
gas pump was a picture of a Breakfast Roll. Eggs, bacon and cheese wrapped in some batter and deep fried. Two for
a dollar twenty nine.
The pump gage slowed down to nine dollars and eighty nine cents or something like that so I went inside to get my
change. I walked over to the spinning metal cylinders that are under heated lights and I looked for the Breakfast
Wraps. I didn’t see anything that looked like the picture so I asked the little Mexican Guy if they had any Breakfast
Wraps. He whispered really quiet, almost where I couldn’t hear him and said they only had what I saw. I made some
stupid joke like I was really counting on those Breakfast Wraps. He nodded in all sincerity that he knew what I meant.
He went to his side of the counter and I went to my side. I told him I needed the change from pump seven or whatever
number the only car is parked by. He opened the register and counted some change into his hand. While keeping his
head to the change he whispered again, “Yer Beeg Juan”, he was talking so quiet I said excuse me. He repeated “You
Beeg Juan.” I again had no idea what he said so I said, “what was that?” He said, “Deek”, he lifted his head from the
change and repeated, “You have a Beeg Deek.” I said, “what is that supposed to mean?” He said I watched you in
the bathroom. I said that is kind of strange for you to tell me that. Looking down again he nudged his shoulders. I
said “Man you better be careful. You say that shit to the wrong people they might smash your head in. Quieter than
ever he said, “yeah I know”. I said, “alright see ya.”
I started up my car and about half hour later my headlight lit up the eyes of a possum in the middle of the road. He
was crossing the road and when my headlights hit him he turned back, my front right tire smashed every bone in his
body and sent him into eternity. In that split second I wished he had been in the center of my car, between my wheels,
but at the same time I figured the drive line would have sucked him up, twirled him around knocking him into my floor
boards.
I arrived at my Mothers house around Six AM. My Brother was awake so we talked about how those little Rat Terriers
are amazing dogs. A friend of his once took him wild boar hunting and the little dogs in their element were amazingly
fierce. They could track wild boars with instinct. I finally went to sleep around eight in the morning.
I woke up late that day and my mom had made me two fried eggs, bacon and shredded potato cake, oh yeah
sourdough toast with margarine I told her I couldn’t eat that much, I had eaten too much weird stuff on the road, but I
ate as much as I could. I spoke to her a couple of hours then fell back asleep.
I woke up late that night and I still had a couple of beers from the drive the night before. In California you can’t buy
alcohol after 2 am. After I drank the last of my beers it was 1:30 am so I decided to drive to the store. It was raining
and really beautiful. The air smelt like big night crawler worms laying in the wet grass or something undescribable.
After I left the all night super market I drove around the back roads of Salinas. This is something I do every time I visit.
The rain falling down making mud and little streams across the old roads was just what I always need. A white possum
crossed the front of my headlights but this time he decided to continue across the wet road. I continued making
random turns down these old country roads. There was a beer can here and there on the road and an old shattered
TV that some one pushed out of the bed of a truck as they drove by, or maybe they ripped the upholstery while pulling
it out of the back seat of a Monte Carlo.
There was another possum in my headlights again but this one stayed in the middle of the road as I drove up. Then I
thought maybe this ain’t a possum it looks like a square beer case, but I could’ve swore it moved. When I pulled up
close it’s eyes lit up in my headlights and it was a square owl. I think it was eating something in the middle of the road.
It was not distracted by the pouring rain or my car pulling up next to it. I rolled my window down and just stared at it. I
think it just swallowed the last of it’s prey and just kind of moved it’s head slightly. My car was idling right next to it and
I stuck my head out the window and said, “hoo, hoo!” It just kind of mechanically moved it’s head slightly. Then
suddenly it’s wings shot out and it flew at my window, its wings did not clear the window of my car but its body was in
between my face and my steering wheel. When I lifted my arms to protect myself my arm caught one of the owl’s wings
and pulled the whole owl into my car. In the dark I could see its wings on the floorboard in front of the empty
passenger seat. My interior light does not work so I pulled out my flashlight and the owl was once again upright
standing on my floorboard looking at me. He seemed unfazed. I pulled the car into gear and started driving. I left the
flashlight on and laid it on my seat. Every once in while I would aim the light at the owl and it’s eyes would light up. It
looked calm and just stared at me. I decided to “hoo, hoo!” again but it didn’t react. I noticed a strange smell I guess it
was the dampness and the owls scent. I continued to drive around with the owl sitting next too me. Maybe fifteen
minutes I drove around talking to the owl and I would hear only slight movement.
In an instant the feathers and wings of the owl were in between me and my steering wheel again, it forced it’s way out
of my window and landed on the old road out in the rain. It again stood there unfazed and moved its head then flew
into the pouring rain.
The next morning my mom had car problems so she asked me to give her a ride to the store so she could get some
stuff she forgot for the Thanksgiving dinner. We were driving trying to find a place that was open on Thanksgiving
Day when she asked me what happened to my eye. There was a deep scratch from the corner of my right eye across
my nose. I said doesn’t it smell funny in here? The smell of wet owl and its dead prey and cheap beer didn’t seem to
faze her. We couldn’t find any grocery store open so she said she didn’t need what ever she forgot.
It was true, she didn’t need what she forgot. She sat there content and unfazed.
Charlie McGovern
-November 22, 2001 4am
Salinas, California.