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Horror on the school run. And once again my squeamishness meant I was slow to act and did the wrong thing. Probably. It’s a moral maze.
I was driving Phoebe to her 9th day of school (and her 4th full day) when I saw something moving in the road. It was a squirrel spiralling around in a circle, unable to get to its feet properly. It had clearly been hit by a car and was in a lot of distress and it was an injury that it would not survive. But I had a couple of seconds to decide what to do about it.
I didn’t know if Phoebe would have seen, but I couldn’t help exclaiming in horror and she definitely saw it.
The most humane thing to do would be to attempt to put the squirrel out of its misery and deliberately run it over. But what if I just clipped it and added to its agony? And what effect would it have on my daughter if she saw me deliberately murder a squirrel who she probably just thought was playing in the road? Also my squeamishness meant that it would be a big ask, even though I knew that it was the right thing to do on many levels?
We were running late due to road works and also on a winding country road, so even if I was the kind of man who was capable of stomping a creature to death or gathering up a freaked out animal and taking it to the vets (which would have been a fool’s errand- it was not going to make it), there wasn’t time and it wasn’t safe to stop. But it was horrifying to see a living creature in this state - yet murdering it seemed too brutal. But so did not murdering it.
I was too freaked out myself to do the deed and steered the car away. Perhaps it would just shake off the injury an be on its way… I felt bad for wimping out, but tried to make myself feel better by perhaps dispatching the critter on the way home. Though that would be ten minutes away at least…
Phoebe was obviously affected by the incident and asked blankly if the squirrel would die and whether the squirrel had been injured by a baddie. I said it would have been an accident and that squirrels are small and can’t be seen and used it as an opportunity to remind her that she was also small so had to be very careful on the road.
But I still thought of the unnecessary agony that I had allowed to occur because of my squeamishness.
By the time I got back to the spot the squirrel had succumbed to its injuries, or encountered a less emotionally-sensitive/cowardly driver and had gone to the great acorn tree in the sky.
I had let a squirrel down and it wasn’t even 9am. What kind of day could I have after that?
Another guest announcement- Jenny Eclair will be joining Grace Petrie at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre on the 19th September. Still some tickets, Leicester.
Book here
NOTE -it’s in LEICESTER, not the Leicester Square Theatre (a mistake that at least one person has made)
