Riding a Bicycle in the Dark Downhill

Riding the sidestreets in this little seacoast town can be quite olfactorally perilous. One has to be especially careful riding bicycles downhill in the dark. For one thing, you don't ever expect a creature to shuffle out of a yard at the bottom of the street's lowpoint as you speed downward. Nevermind that you do need new brakes. And nevermind that at the last minute this creature shuffles out and not only does that, but does something only this creature does. Stops right there in the middle of the road with a bicycle bearing down at just under thirty miles an hour and then the swerve just in time to pass this black and white creature with his tail standing straight up. Then past him, heart beating as fast as the bike's wheels spinning and the smell of the creature follows all the way up the hill to let the bike rider know that the little black and white fella appreciated bicycles passing within an inch of him.