Hitting a Gull

An interesting thing happened the other day when I rode my bike home. Now it is no surprise when you hit a bird in a car...well maybe a momentary--What the *!#@. But have you ever experienced hitting another living animal on a bike. The scale of your vehicle is much smaller and the object feels much larger. Feels is the appropriate verb here. I was commuting home on my bike, pedaling uphill. Uphill non the less. A seagull is walking across the street. I innocently think nothing of it. As I get nearer I notice a car approaching from behind. I fully expect the seagull to deviate from our shared course, but instead it frantically walks like some stupid pigeon, never in a strait line, never fast enough. As a collision seems inevitable, it takes to flight. Oh...too late my winged friend. I plunge into the fowl midair. It is thrown violently to the pavement, narrowly missing the front tire. It attempts to take flight again, but is harshly pinned between the asphalt and my sprocket. Bump, bump, my rear tire runs squarely over it. It emits a painful squawking noise. My head spins quickly around attempting to confirm this anomaly which my brain argues just occurred. Before I can make sense of it all, the car behind me finishes him off, with an absolute BUMP, BUMP...tire, gull, asphalt. Now each day as I commute home I witness this winged roadkill pressed firmly into the pavement like a cartoon character.