Example Essay

I work second shift and I don’t get out until about 11:30 p.m, then I drive an hour home. Staying alert can be hard and after working my butt off all night I tend to drift off to La La land and forget to pay attention. I see a lot of strange and not so strange things on my ride home, and it keeps me from drifting off and forget what I am doing. Just about every Friday a Saturday night I follow a car that seems to have problems with its tires, because of the hard time it has staying in the right lane, and can never keep a constant speed. Avoiding deer, especially this time a year is something that really gets the heart pumping, but it is always nice to see them out and about. What aren’t nice to see out and about in the middle of the night is cats, and about once or twice a year one finds one of my tires.

This past summer I got of work at about 11:45 and I jumped in the car, put the key in the ignition, and started traveling north to home sweet home. I travel about 15miles on the turn pike, and the other 37 miles are on back roads. One night I got off my exit and pulled behind a red Chevy cavalier, that had a bumper sticker that read “if you don’t like my driving dial 1-800-eat s#!t.” After about ½ a mile I realized I just might be making that call. The Cavalier, while swerving from the shoulder to the middle of the road, would slowdown and speed up, the funny thing was if the car went around a sharp corner it almost never was on the right side of the road. I followed the car for about 30 min praying they would get home safe, the good thing about that time of night there is usually no traffic, but this night we had a car coming in the opposite direction. As the car got closer, the Cavalier started to drift into the other lane and just as the two cars were about to hit, the cavalier jerked backed into its lane fish tailed a little, and kept going. After that I realized the individual driving was drunker then I thought so I called the Penobscot police and they had a nice little surprise for the cavalier waiting in the next town we were coming to.

Deer seem to be attracted to my car, or they just love to scar the crap out of me while I am traveling 70mph up the pike. Just two weeks ago was the latest run in with one of these suicidal beasts. Like I said I was moving at about 70mph when all of a sudden a 400 pound doe jumped out in front of me, well maybe it was a 100 pound doe, but at 70mph it looked at least 400 pounds. For some reason I tried to avoid the Goliath and I swerved toward the ditch without thinking, something I never do, and my front passenger tire went off the pavement and that sucked my car towards the ditch. I went around one of the many reflectors, and the rear of my car started to fish tail in the grass that I was now in. I turned the tires into the skid and put the pedal to the medal, and once my front tires hit the pavement it shot my care back across the pike and around facing the same way I just came from, so I let the car role back, and I turned it around and stopped, took a deep breath and went on my way. I couldn’t help but wonder what the guy in back of me was thinking while all that was going on.

I have hit a few cats and I always feel strange knocking on peoples doors at midnight to tell them, so I usually don’t, I am just afraid I am going to get shot, so I make sure they are not suffering (I don’t think I need to explain how because it is never fun, and I feel like crap after) and hide them in the bushes so no one will find them and I proceed home. One night I had three cats run in front of me and I had all about 1 second to make a decision to react and avoid hitting two of them and only hit one. I then turned around to take care of the cat. I feel bad after this happens for a few minutes, but that’s about it, I just hope that the cat was wild and not some little kids pet.

I see many shooting stars, the occasional moose and some animals that I cannot figure out what they are. About two months ago I would see at least one fox almost ever two miles, and I live fifty two miles from work. I see strange lights in the sky, shooting stars, low flying aircraft, and giant owls searching for rodents on the side of the roads. Every night has something to offer to get my mind to unravel from the busy day and take my mind off the long ride home. Many people ask me how I can live so far from work and drive that hour every day, but I have been doing it for over five years and when every night has something else to see around every corner, I don’t even notice.