There it was. Right there in his head. The weight of the car was 1,576.23 kg, corrected to 2 decimal places. A quick glance at the speedometer told him that the instrument on the dashboard was reporting incorrectly. The speed was not 58.21 km/h but 60.34 km/h. He knew it with absolute certainty just like he knew the temperature of his body had risen 0.34 degrees within the last nanosecond. Another nanosecond passed. His eyes darted up swiftly. The man was stepping off the pavement at 3.533km/h - calculated within a millionth of a second. The man was 1.65m tall, about 68.25kg and the tension on the shopping bag he was carrying meant that the bag weighted 5.22kg. In total, 73.47kg. Right at that moment the man was 15.67 meters from the left headlight of the car. At the speed the man was walking into the road the collision between him, and the car will occur in 0.4241 seconds.
The location of the collision of the front-bumper to the man’s body will be at 2.23 centimetres above the head of the fibula of his right leg. Automatic estimations were made to within 0.01mm precision and in the span of another nanosecond. The impact will cause immediate knee dislocation with both the fibula and the tibia breaking along with both the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament sustaining severe tears. The momentum of the impact will be heavily transferred to the man causing him to be lifted 2.542m into the air, body rotating 94.43 degrees horizontally and 254.22 degrees vertically before impacting on the windscreen at 43.432km/h at 650 newtons of force. The point of this second impact will be at the man’s right scapula first and then the back of his skull 4.77 cm above the occipital bone.
The force of the impact will cause dislocation of the gleno-numeral joint and tearing of the subscapularis muscle. Several microscopic fractures will be created on the acromion, the coracoid process and the clavical and the first, second and third right-side ribs will break off from the sternum. They will not puncture the lung. All this in addition to the fractures to the Parietal and the Occipital bones and severe concussion to his brain will result in internal bleeding. Calculations further revealed that within 0.62 seconds of the impact the man would lose consciousness due to shock. Within an additional 2.28 seconds blood will start leaking into his brain and this told him that if the emergency services did not arrive in 6 minute and 24 seconds the man will succumb to the injuries and die. Even if they arrived before that and if proper care is given, he would be left comatose for the rest of his life due to the injuries.
That is, of course, unless he applied 1,244.2 newtons of force to the brakes at precisely 0.023 second from the moment these calculations appeared in his head. Such a force would stop the car with 1.42cm of clearance from the man’s knee and the man would only feel annoyed and walk away unharmed. So, at 0.014 seconds instructions were sent to his right leg to move his feet leftward and diagonally up to the brake pedal. At 0.0145 seconds there was no response and no movement on his right left.
Then it went dark and the hum of the car slowed down as if someone slowed a tape player. Ice cold water was injected into his chest through to his limbs. It felt like that to him, anyway. This sensation seemed to last a long time. His fingers felt stiff, his body as if in the grip of something vice-like. Except for his breathing, which was rapid and sharp, with short gasps for air. Otherwise, his body, immovable and solid was beyond his control.
With a sudden jolt, warmth returned to his chest and his breathing returned to a slow rhythm. The hairs on his arms and the back of his neck were raised and he felt a sense of euphoria rushing from the root of his spine, moving up in rapid waves, into his head in quick succession. If he did try to open his eyes he could not. He felt light, light as the wind or even lighter because at that moment he felt the wind could carry him off. Gravity seemed to have decided to ignore him. The skin on his face and neck seem to unfold and unravel and as if to rid itself of the heaviness and strain. It did so in cascades – evaporating into puffs of steam. The sensation travelled through his fingers and then to his arms. His shoulders rose as if carried by an invisible force, his head tilted backward. His ears, his nose and the hairs on his head responded in waves as the exhilaration traversed through each cell and neuron. There was still darkness. And at the corners of each of his eyes a single, perfectly clear bead of tear formed.
Precisely 1.5 seconds after the initial calculations were made, light returned to his eyes. The hum of the car, the buzz of the outside and sound of his own breathing returned swiftly to his ears. His body seemed to gain 50 kilograms in a single moment, and he sank into the seat. The sensation was gone now as if a strong gust of wind had brushed against him and left.
His moved his right leg unconsciously, in pure reflex and his feet landed on the brake pedal and he instinctively pressed as hard as he could. The car lurched forward as his eyes widened in fear and his hands gripped the steering wheel as if to yank the car backward.
The man with the shopping bag jumped back, the back of his heel caught the curb and he tripped and landed on his buttocks. His hand had let go of the bag moments before and as the bag fell it hit the side of the curb. Cans of tuna spilled forth from the bag, some rolled away and some rattled in place, making a metallic clapping sound. The car stopped abruptly just then.
The man’s face turned from of a startled and pained look, eyes wide and mouth agape, to angered and scowled. Cobir sat in the seat, frozen, gripping the steering wheel.
“Hey! What the fuck?!”, yelled the man as he struggled to get to his feet, the muffled sound of his voice barely audible inside the car. “Don’t you fucking watch when you drive?”. The tone and pitch of his voice rose with anger.
Kabeer fumbled around and having found it pressed the button and the passenger-side window slid down.
“Sorry, bro! Very sorry.”, he said
“Sorry, ey? Fuck you, you fucking Bangaalhu!”