Up On a Limb

I took the lake road home from Walmart on Monday. It's extra curvy, with numerous hill crests. I wasn't going very fast, since there was a car ahead of me. And I slowed way down and let it get away from me, once I saw a red cap.

That meant a road walker up ahead. I couldn't see him, because of the dips and crests. But I got a glimpse of that red hat. I figured a car coming from the other direction might swerve into my lane to avoid Red Cap, who appeared from his position to be tightrope-dancing along the edge of that blacktop road with no shoulder. So I slowed T-Hoe to about 30 mph in preparation for evasive driving.

WELL! I crested the next mini-hill, and Red Cap was almost at the center stripe, heading for a fallen tree limb. He glanced over his shoulder, saw me, and jumped back onto his side. A perfect example of how no good deed goes unpunished. Had I been a less cautious driver, Red Cap could have been flattened! I came upon him in the blink of an eye.

He was just doing a good deed, attempting to pick up that fallen limb. It wasn't like a log, or a handful of twigs. That tree limb was as thick as a wiry ten-year-old's arm, with assorted leafy branches. I guess Sunday night's storm had dislodged it. You can bet nobody was going to stop their car in the middle of the road to pick it up. But a conscientious road-walker was making the attempt.

Red caps are almost as good as those glowing orange or green vests, you know. And stick up higher when the wearer is standing in the trough between hill crests.