Early summer 1996

I had been out with one of my friends in some club. It was early Sundaymorning, around four in the morning and I was heading home to get some sleep. We had been dancing pretty much the whole night and I wasn't completely fresh anymore, rather tired and anxious to get to bed.
I wasn't driving fast, normal speed for the road I was driving on. Maybe that was because I'd just noticed a police car passing by and I was still wondering what that car did so far out of town, when most of the action is in town on a Saturday night.
But anyway... that was pretty much the thing I really consciously thought about, because I wasn't there with my mind for the full 100%. I did have my eyes on the road, but apparently not completely focused, because it took me awhile to see the big shadow standing right in the middle of the road, blocking my way. And I realized what it was only when I was a few meters.
Ofcourse by that time I was wide awake and I must say that I was surprised about my own reflexes. I dodged the cow when I still had like 5 or 6 meters space to dodge and the thumb I heard was its tail wanking my right side mirror.
The thumbing that I heard afterwards was my own heartbeat. It was very much present all through my body, at a speed that I hadn't experienced before or haven't since and it was faster than after the most intense BMX-competition I did.
I had to pull the car over to the side of the road, because I was shaking all over. I realized that if I would've hit that cow, I would probably not have survived it.
When I'd stood there for some minutes and had calmed down abit I got out of the car and ran back to the place where the cow had been. Knowing that other drivers might not have the luck that I had. The cow wasn't there anymore, but the policecar had come back. I talked to one of the policeofficers and it appeared that earlier that night 8 cows had escaped from some grassfield nearby. They had been able to track the owner and catch five of them, but there were still three on the loose.
Since I couldn't help out much there anymore, and I was really dying to get to bed, I got back to my car and drove home.
And went to sleep safe and sound...