Once when I was a kid on my BMX, I was cruising along a Brooklyn sidewalk and there was a group of pigeons. I figured they'd just get out of the way, the way pigeons do, but one of them totally blew it and I ran right over its neck. I felt bad because it wasn't dead but it was making all kinds of raspy noises and scooching awkwardly along the sidewalk. It managed to nestle itself againt the first step of some building, and, being a sensitive/sadistic 10-year-old (I felt pity but also grotesque fascination), I stood there watching it, and then the owner of the building, which was some nail salon, came out and yelled at me for putting a crippled bird in front of his business. When you're raised in Brooklyn, you know just what to say to someone who gives you a hard time in a situation like that, so I told him, but not until I was already back on my bike and ready for a quick getaway.