Suicidal skunks.

Arriving at one of my timing point slightly ahead of schedule, I park the bus and sit back in my seat to wait out the required two minutes. A woman standing at the front of the bus points out a skunk wandering down the sidewalk. "I hope he doesn't go out on the road" she comments. Seeing as my time is up, I release the brakes and pull out of the stop. I spy the skunk hanging out where it's safe on the sidewalk. Good. Maybe animals aren't as dumb as I thought. When I'm about five metres from the skunk he chooses to try and run across the road. I end up just missing him. The overenthusiastic animal lover at the front sobs "You just about hit the poor skunk" 



We're trained to run over animals. I know that sounds bad but think about it for a minute. I have a bus full of people that could potentially fall and injure themselves if I swerve suddenly. Also I have to be aware of the other traffic on the road. Of course, I'm not going to try to run over an animal, I will do everything in my power to avoid hitting it but when it comes down to it, my passengers and other motorists are my number one priority. I mean if it were a larger animal, say a moose, I wouldn't hit it but smaller animals...it's just like going over a speed bump. This skunk probably eats garbage anyways. I'd be doing someone a favour by hitting it, they wouldn't have to clean up the trash it got into overnight. 


On my return trip about two miles from where I first spotted the skunk another (or perhaps the same one) darted out in front of the bus. Luckily my bus empty and the streets devoid of any traffic so I was able to miss him easily. Hmmm. That's odd, I've hardly ever seen a skunk in the city and tonight I see two. 


About an hour and a half later on the other side of the city I just about collide, yet again, with a skunk. What the hell is going on here? Three skunks running in front of my bus in less than four hours? Then it hits me. I know what's going on here. These skunks are part of a cult and their leader has promised eternal life if everyone can kill themselves by midnight. Mystery solved.