indeterminate mind

  A Streak of Gray on Highway 290 At around 5:30 in the evening, I was traveling from Austin to Houston, starting a grueling seven-week work trip where I would only be home on weekends. The journey was mundane, set against the backdrop of clear skies with the monotony broken only by the narration of an audiobook. However, a growing sense of unease began to gnaw at me—a familiar anxiety tied to the endless weeks of travel that lay ahead. Amidst these introspections on Highway 290, an event unfolded that would not only halt the crescendo of my anxieties but also steer my perspective toward a profound realization. A gray streak flashed across the road, a fleeting shadow against the asphalt until a black SUV intersected its path. Time dilated at that moment, allowing me to witness the dog's flight through the air and its subsequent disappearance into the median. A sinking feeling took hold; I was convinced of the inevitable—that the dog lay dead. That poor dog is dead , I thought to m