a day of carnage and mystery

 Yesterday morning, just before sunrise, I was enjoying a morning riff-raff-bike-ride through that lovely ritzy private lake neighborhood.  At one point, I saw a dead furry thing in the road ahead.  

As I approached, I tried discerning what the carcass was.  Raccoon?  Dog?  Cat?  The fur was dark and a bit stripey.  I was leaning toward raccoon.  

There was a man approaching from the opposite direction, apparently out for a lovely morning walk.  We both acknowledged each other while acknowledging the dead furry thing in the road.  I wasn't looking forward to rolling passed it and seeing the full gore likely to be on display.  Walking Man also approached rather gingerly, like to investigate the death.  

I was about to say something to him like, "should we call to have someone properly remove this?" when that damn thing jumped up and trotted across the street!  It startled Walking Man too as he visibly flinched and took a step back.  I managed to stay upright on the bicycle.

Frickin' cat.  Big boy.  Laying in the middle of the street for grins. Probably playing games with us before returning to its millions dollar home for a bowl of caviar.

Walking Man and I just looked at each other all wide-eyed.

"I coulda swore it was dead!", he said, narrating my own thoughts.

Later, in the afternoon, I was again out bicycling on a short errand.  Again, I saw something ahead in the street.  It could've been some downed branches?  It did appear to be branch-like, but it wasn't just tree-colored.  As I got closer, it looked to be... a person?  A child?  And a downed bicycle?

Closer still, and yes. It was a person and a bicycle.  A woman actually.  I'd say she was about mid-50s.  She just laid there.

Another woman appeared on the corner of the sidewalk and began speaking to downed woman just as I pulled up.  Sidewalk Woman and I asked how Crash Woman was.  Was she okay?  Could she stand up?  She remained sitting in the road.

At first, I thought maybe she'd hurt her leg/hip/knee/foot/ankle and was unable to stand.  But then a car approached and Crash Woman stood up while picking up her bicycle.  

She was a little scratched up with road hash here and there, but she hadn't hit her (helmeted) head.  Her bike saddle had a little tear.  Had she gone over the handlebars? 

Sidewalk woman and I asked her questions:  Did she feel she needed medical attention?  a ride? want to sit down? some water?  

She never answered other than to decline the offer of water.  She just kept saying, "I don't know what happened".  It was a clear day on a smooth, debris free road.

It was soon clear that Crash Woman and Sidewalk Woman knew each other.  In fact, I think maybe Crash Woman had just left Sidewalk Woman's home.  So even though Crash Woman seemed to be a bit dazed as she was smiling at Sidwalk Woman but not talking, I started to feel like a third wheel...

... and left them to it.  

Clearly some torrid affair stuff going on.  Crash Woman deliberately making a scene in front of Sidewalk Woman's home, not expecting Stranger Woman to intrude on the drama out of the blue.  

I  mean, if she's not talking, I'm left to fill in the blanks myself.  Just like with Caviar Cat.