To recap: her total indifference to his humanity made him want to insult her humanity in the most effective manner possible.

I can dig it.

Some months ago a woman and her friends, in a PEARL Cadillac Escalade, got within inches of my rear wheel in a traffic circle and HONKED.
Actually, it sounded as if she put both feet on the steering wheel and stood on it.

I turned my head back towards her and shouted "BACK OFF!".

In response to which she rolled down her window and let out a string of obscenities.

Clearly, she did not know that only a few decades ago, society effectively incarcerated me in the Marine Corps for nine years in order to make best use of my natural inclinations in situations like this.

Funny how complex memories can flash through one's mind in an instant.

Picture a young man in a military uniform getting off a plane from Southeast Asia, and a young female political protestor spitting "Baby Killer" in his face.

And, imagine this young man saying, "I don't know about any babies, but yesterday I did kill a girl your age."

Anyway, back to the future, I could have stopped my bike and kicked in her front grill.
She would have gotten out of her car and, after listening to her shout more obscenities for a minute or so, I would have snapped her neck.
Yes, it would have meant a life as a fugitive, but a small price to pay for the emotional satisfaction of watching her eyes grow dull.

Hey!

C'mon.

I saved her life.

I stepped between her and a pathological murderer.

Which makes me the hero of the story.

I like that ending of the story much better than the other ending of the story.