Circa 1987, I worked at a fish and chip store in Sarcee Plaza, area of 37 st and 46 ave SW. Had a crush on a coworker and used to walk her home after work, straight west on 46 st to 45 ave, then zig-zag into the neighborhood. At the corner of 46 and 45, there's a place called Kentish Town Mews, and north of that, an apartment building. In '87 the apartment building didn't exist, it was a large lot with a single house, a forest, all with a chain link fence around it. We used to walk past this lot, down the path on the north side and on to the girl's house.
One night, she says lets hop the fence, go through the lot. It's dark in there, she says. Secret. So I help her over the fence, and when I get over, she's gone. So I stumble through the woods, expecting her to jump out from behind some tree. Near the house, theres this mowed clearing and there's this ostrich standing there. Freaked the hell out of me. In the dark I wasn't sure what it was and I just about pissed my pants while running out of there. I jump this gate at the west end of the lot and there's the girl. She, laughs, tells me the ostrich is harmless, it's a pet, you can pretty much ride it, etc, etc, etc, dot dot dot.
Now the bone-headed part. About 2 weeks later, a couple of friends and I are walking past that place, and I tell them there's an ostrich in there. They don't believe me, so we head in, and there in pretty much the same spot, the ostrich. I decide I'm going to try to ride it. I took one step toward it and it must have read my mind. It pretty much just ran me over and stepped on my head in the process. 20 stitches and a mild concussion.
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