The Teufelchen Event

Tuesday night I almost bought it, Stephen King style.

I was doing my midnight walk and was already halfway up the mountain, when I spotted Teufelchen - or at least a black cat very much resembling him. Years ago, when he was still a tiny kitten, I had picked him up in the middle of the city-highway and now he is roaming Garden City, where I live.

When I call "Teufelchen", he comes to me and wants to be petted, rolling around on the ground with obvious pleasure. I noticed a bunch of idiots driving their Honda Civic, Subaru Impreza or some such recklessly up and down the mountain. Very noisy special exhaust pipes and those guys were smack in the middle of a very quiet residential neighborhood. Did I mention that it was just past midnight?

Anyway, Teufelchen lured me to the other side of a parked car and just as I was bending down to play with him some more, there was a terrific crash. Splinters of glass were flying everywhere, the alarm system of the car I was standing next to was making an unbelievable noise and I got such a fright that I was shaking.

A car had smashed right into that parked car, its front resembled an accordion and the drivers head had smashed the front shield. Of course he was bleeding and of course I didn't carry my cell-phone. Fortunately I could flag down one of the irresponsible drivers, who carried his mobile phone with him and therefore could call for help. People came out of the neighboring houses, as they had been woken up by the crash.

That's when I realized that I would have been on the other side of the car - if it hadn't been for Teufelchen.