It was the size a tad less than the tip of your forefinger, of a proud uniform orangish brown colour from its abdomen to its antenna. With those antenna, long, wavy and thrashing the air like a whiplash, it was an eye catching creature, scurrying across the damp, coarse surface of the thin plank of wood a hands reach away from me. And for some reason, right in front of me, it turned and stopped. It now faced me, like a bull about to charge at its bull fighter. The combination of that angry orange and the incessant probing of the long antenna, akin to a swordsman intimidating his opponent with an artful movement of his sword before a fight, intimidated me. I grew nervous.
"I think its going to jump at you", my friend laughed.
And it suddenly jumped at me.
Like an almost knee jerk reaction, my natural instincts assumed control of my panic stricken mind. First task, spot the devil. My eyes scanned the fading orange expanse of my life jacket. Nope, not there. Next, my exposed hands. Yes, there it was, near my right elbow, far from the forest of hair near my wrist where it could possibly have got lost 'in the woods'. Next task, get the thing off me. My left hand rose to the occasion. First wild flick. Miss. Panic. Second flick. Spot on and the devil is cast out onto the tea brown water of the river. I manage to catch a glimpse of it floating onto the water before it is carried away by the stream.
I turn to my friend, "Fuck you man!".
"EH! Not like it understood what I said!", he retorted.
Of course it did not understand what my friend said in jest. But this creature I had never seen before had woken me up with a fright from my lazy slumber, just like the house lizard had made me jump when it creeped near my feet one early morning back at home, not forgetting that cockroach that was supposed to be dead, but suddenly came alive as I lifted it delicately to throw it away. As I slowly regained my senses, I laughed. After 23 years on this planet, after the many fights in school, after 2 years of NS, a semester of Judo, my human mind remains a pathetically scared institution.
"I think its going to jump at you", my friend laughed.
And it suddenly jumped at me.
Like an almost knee jerk reaction, my natural instincts assumed control of my panic stricken mind. First task, spot the devil. My eyes scanned the fading orange expanse of my life jacket. Nope, not there. Next, my exposed hands. Yes, there it was, near my right elbow, far from the forest of hair near my wrist where it could possibly have got lost 'in the woods'. Next task, get the thing off me. My left hand rose to the occasion. First wild flick. Miss. Panic. Second flick. Spot on and the devil is cast out onto the tea brown water of the river. I manage to catch a glimpse of it floating onto the water before it is carried away by the stream.
I turn to my friend, "Fuck you man!".
"EH! Not like it understood what I said!", he retorted.
Of course it did not understand what my friend said in jest. But this creature I had never seen before had woken me up with a fright from my lazy slumber, just like the house lizard had made me jump when it creeped near my feet one early morning back at home, not forgetting that cockroach that was supposed to be dead, but suddenly came alive as I lifted it delicately to throw it away. As I slowly regained my senses, I laughed. After 23 years on this planet, after the many fights in school, after 2 years of NS, a semester of Judo, my human mind remains a pathetically scared institution.
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