The death of Big Bob.

In the early fall of 2000, the family and I were getting ready to go to Germany for a tour of duty and after the hell of working in New York, we were traveling to visit our families. We drove to Georgia for a few weeks and then back north to Maryland to visit my parents. Off I95, we turned going to the Potomac River Bridge. It was late at night as we were driving through that very dark part of Virginia which is full of revolutionary and civil war history. On one of the longest and darkest part of the road, my five year old girl told me, out of the blue, that she saw angels inside the car. I looked at my wife with a strange look, I slowed down the car and coming out of a turn at 55 mph I saw two reflective little lights on the road, but I was too close and going to fast to stop and I felt something hit the car, the air bags came out, I saw the passenger bag deploy and crack the windshield, I waited for my ears to pop, because I have heard that they did when the windows were closed and the airbags deployed, but my ears never popped. The whole car smelled as burnt powder. I stopped the car and pulled over, my wife and I got the children out, within seconds there was a set of lights of a truck coming from the same direction of the accident. The driver had his family with him and after checking that everybody in my family was all right he told me that there was a big dog about 50 meters from us and it was what I had ran over. So he and I went back to see and, nope, that was not a dog, that was the biggest beaver that I have ever seen. We cleared the road and left it on the side for the police. The young man asked me if I was military and told me that there was a Navy base a few miles up the road. So we got back in our car and followed him to the Navy base, I told the guards at the gate what happened and I went to check for a hotel room. I checked in and when I was asked for the rank I showed my promotion orders to a senior enlisted rank. I was told that because of the rank I was getting a cottage and if I needed anything I could call for it. I also called my parents and told them that we might need a ride next day, we were just about 60 miles from my parents. I called GEICO to informed them that I had ran over a beaver and my car needed repairs, major repairs. GEICO asked me if my family needed medical attention, a car was going to be waiting for me at my parents house, was I OK?, etc. I FUCKING LOVE GEICO!!!!!! They paid for everything!!!!! When My family and I got to the "cottage" the Navy was providing for us, I noticed that it had to be a mistake, that was not a "Cottage" it was a fucking house. It was a river front house with a full kitchen, WITH FOOD already. It was very dark but we could smell and hear the river very near to us. Five minutes later I saw an Officer was at our front door, my wife opened the door to find out that the post commander had sent a Medical Doctor to make sure we were fine, he did a quick check up for all of us and left. GEICO was calling again to tell us that in the morning a tow truck was picking up my car and that they were paying for the accommodations. Because it was already late and the kids were asleep, we went to bed. The sound of the river was so soothing that I went to sleep as soon as my wife was done with me. As soon as we walked into the cottage, we have felt ghosts inside and we wanted to give them a show. The morning came, and we were awaken by the voices of people talking outside our "cottage." The wife and I went downstairs made some coffee and went outside to see what was happening. The place was beautiful, the river was about 20 meters from the "cottage." There was a man with a camera taking pictures of my car and some Military Police hanging around. I asked them what was going on and I was told that the beaver from last night was "Big Bob" and according to te Park Rangers it was the biggest beaver in the state of Virginia. The park authorities have been trying to capture it because it was creating havoc by obstructing small, side roads. My parents were there early that day and we went home to tell the story a few times to the rest of the family. My poor car took about three weeks to get it fixed, but it made it to Germany and I still have it. Some times, when it is hot enough I can still smell the beaver under my car.

Good night.