I’m driving home in the dark on a wet road. Suddenly a deer bounds into the road about ten feet in front of me. Even though I’m going at the speed limit (yes, really!) there’s no way I can avoid hitting her. I slam on the brakes, but the deer collides heavily with my left front bumper. I have the impression that I’ve just run over the poor thing.
I stop. I think “What do I do now?” I look around. The deer has been flung to the other side of the road. Before I can even get a visual impression of whether she’s been injured, she leaps up and bounds across the road heading back the way she came.
There wasn’t even a dent in my car.
I hope I didn’t hurt the poor thing. At least her running and leaping abilities were not affected!