Need proof we live in a pinball world?</p><p>Lisa Long was driving through Cass County farm country Tuesday when somebody &mdash; maybe a mile or more away &mdash; pulled the trigger on a high-powered rifle.</p><p>The bullet zipped over fields and pasture from the south as Long&rsquo;s car traveled west from her aunt&rsquo;s house. The two would meet at a point on 307th Street at precisely the same instant.</p><p>Not only that, Long&rsquo;s driver-side window was down six inches or so and the bullet was at the perfect trajectory to enter the opening as she drove past that point at 40 mph.</p><p>The slug tore through her cheek, exited her mouth, then plopped onto the floorboard of the 1998 Ford Taurus.</p><p>What are the odds? Moving car, moving bullet.</p><p> If she had washed one more dish, left her aunt&rsquo;s house a second earlier &mdash; or later &mdash; or if she had been driving a mile an hour slower &mdash; or faster &mdash; that bullet would have landed harmlessly in a field to perhaps be found by an archaeologist 1,000 years from now.</p><p>Just bad luck, huh?</p><p>Not at all, she said Friday from her Kansas City home.</p><p>&ldquo;I keep coming back to this &mdash; I&rsquo;m the luckiest person in the world,&rdquo; said Long, 33, the mother of two boys, ages 10 and 9. &ldquo;When I think about how this could have turned out &hellip; yeah, I&rsquo;ll take this.&rdquo;</p><p>The bullet cost her a tooth. Three inches higher and it could have cost her life. Stephen and Tyler &mdash; both autistic, one with cerebral palsy &mdash; would have lost their mother.</p><p>Authorities suspect someone preparing for deer hunting season might have been &ldquo;sighting in&rdquo; a rifle.</p><p>&ldquo;Looks to be a .30-caliber,&rdquo; said Cpl. Kevin Tieman of the Cass County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office. &ldquo;We did a follow-up with neighbors out there but so far haven&rsquo;t found anything.&rdquo;</p><p>He said he thought the bullet lost some of its velocity due to the distance it traveled.</p><p>Long grew up a military brat, spending time in Guam and Greece, where her father was stationed. She graduated from Archie (Mo.) High School and then toured with an orchestra as a classical flutist. She tried to join the Marine Corps, but a hearing problem kept her out.</p><p>Her life these days is pretty much her two sons &mdash; and that&rsquo;s where her thoughts have been since being shot. What if Stephen or Tyler had been with her Tuesday? What if they&rsquo;d been hit?</p><p>It was scary enough for them to see her.</p><p>&ldquo;They went to school that day and when they came home, I looked like this,&rdquo; said Long, who has worked with family support groups for developmentally disabled children.</p><p>The boys kept away at first, eyeing her from a distance. Finally, Stephen gave her a &ldquo;really light kiss&rdquo; on her cheek.</p><p>Her husband, Bryan Vest, shook his head at the possibilities. </p><p>&ldquo;The boys are so lucky to still have their mom,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Long had driven Tuesday to check on an aunt who recently had suffered a stroke. She did some cleaning, and after the two ate lunch, she washed the dishes before heading home about 12:45 p.m. She drove westbound on 307th Street toward U.S. 71.</p><p>&ldquo;I was listening to NPR and thinking what a beautiful day it was,&rdquo; Long said.</p><p>Then she felt a sting on her face and something hit a tooth. Didn&rsquo;t hurt much. She didn&rsquo;t stop. Didn&rsquo;t even tap the brakes. But she did touch her cheek. When she pulled her hand away, it was covered with blood. She quickly looked in the rearview mirror and saw a hole in her face and blood rolling down her neck.