Night Driving

The drive from where I was staying to the airport was 4 hours long.
I was picked up around 11:30 PM. Thankfully, I've been gifted with the ability to sleep pretty much anywhere. So, I got into the front passenger seat (on the left side of the car, by the way), buckled the seat belt, and sat back for my four-hour nap. For the most part, the ride was fine.

I could feel the car swerving in and out of traffic. I could feel the quick acceleration and quick stops as the driver would pass trucks and quickly get back in line with the approach of oncoming traffic. Most of the time I slept through it.

I was asleep when I felt the car coming to a FAST stop. My body jerked forward into the seat belt and my eyes snapped open. Right in front of my window hundreds and hundreds of little beady eyes. It took me a minute to wake up and figure out what was happening -- and what I was seeing. A truck loaded with live chicken... and we were driving right into it. I know my eyes must have gotten five times bigger. I imagined us crashing into the truck, the windshield giving way -- and me with hundreds of these little chicken with their little beady eyes squawking in my face.

But, that was just my imagination. Our driver was an expert driver speeding us along through the night traffic. We stopped millimeters away from the back of truck and I got to just watch the little guys from a distance.

... until our driver decided it was ready to pass them and move us along.