I Almost Saw This Girl Get Killed Summary and Analysis

Sedaris and Hugh attend the Festival of Saint Anne, which is held in a nearby village in Normandy. The festival is a heyday of do-it-yourself crafts, a few games, and low-end carnival rides. The main event, however, is the vachette, a young and angry long-horned cow.

Sedaris and Hugh find a seat in the bleachers where they can look down onto the makeshift plywood arena that sits in the middle of a pasture. Young men are playing soccer in the arena. After awhile Sedaris becomes concerned that he has missed the main event. His worries were soon replaced with excitement as the vachette races into the arena. The angry vachette immediately charges the soccer players, scattering them as they run for protection behind the barricades.

It is obvious to...