We turned on the radio news

 

… and it wasn’t talking about Donald trump.  It wasn’t even talking about the U.S. presidential election at all.  What a delight.

 

 

And we had another Wild Kingdom Moment.  The hunter and the hunted.  No photos; it all happened so fast.  We were driving slowly, birding Anzalduas Park, on the south end right next to the river.  We passed a minivan driving slowly the opposite direction.  At that moment two men, probably in their early thirties, came running down the embankment for the dam approach as fast as they could go, across the road in front of us, and dived into the minivan.  That was the dash to safety; to the anonymity of the car.

 

We pulled over to watch the drama unfold.  The minivan continued the opposite direction from us.  We were no threat, they didn’t care what we saw, but there were at least eight Border Patrol, County Sheriff, and Constable vehicles patrolling the park.  Did any of them see what just unfolded?  The minivan continued around the loop and was driving north now, at a reasonable speed in a park full of families, about a hundred yards west of us.  She was coming up on a four-way stop.  There was a Constable SUV already at the stop sign coming the opposite direction, just waiting.  She pulled up to the intersection, passing a Border Patrol SUV parked pointed the other direction, and stopped.  The Constable sat there at the stop sign and waited.  The suspense must have been killing her.  It was killing us.  She pulled through the stop sign and drove past.  The Constable didn’t light her up.  He paused a little longer, then continued on his rounds.  We watched her continue to the north and out of the park.  They made it.

 

As we were driving the rest of the way out of the park, we passed the same Constable pulled over in a different spot.  We pulled up next to him and described what we saw.  That made him really agitated, but with good humor.  “I knew it!  I knew it!” he kept saying.  “I knew something was up with that car.  I was going to pull her over for a traffic stop, but I didn’t.”  He pounded on the steering wheel.  “I knew it.”

 

That pregnant pause we had watched at the stop sign; it seemed like indecision from that distance; at least close scrutiny.  Turned out it was both.

 

These were not likely drug lords we saw running for their lives to the back of that minivan.  These were human beings, probably looking for a better life; a chance for a job, maybe as migrant pickers, and maybe send some money home.  The Border Patrol; they’re human beings too.  They’re doing their job the best they can.  They hate to see any get away.

 

This time, the prey ran free.