A dead pigeon fell from the sky

An odd thing happed to me today. So odd as to be unique in my experience. While driving on the freeway at sunrise, a pigeon fell from a clear sky and landed dead on the hood of my truck with a wet thud. I was not moving at the time. I was admiring the view of downtown Los Angeles. The sunlight had an orange quality that is unique to this time of year. The buildings were glowing orange while offset by a lightly clouded purple sky. I was thinking the vista was worthy of a photo or a poem, and then thwack… a dead pigeon appeared on my hood. It was unnerving.

I drove along the freeway with the carcass on my hood until I cleared downtown. I pulled off near Hollywood to clean up in a gas station. A man watched me dispose of the bird. He said, “That’s a bad omen dude. I would go home and hide if I were you.” I smiled at his silly superstitious comment, the thought had not crossed my mind. I was too busy trying to figure out what killed the bird.

It is late on Tuesday as I write this. I’ve been home for an hour after a long day at work. I’ve had the whole day to think about how the pigeon died. My best guess is that it was hit by a vehicle in the fast moving opposing lanes and thrown into the air to land on my truck. It sucks to be a pigeon.

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