Post by Sarai Lee on Jul 5, 2014 14:54:26 GMT -5
This was a piece I wrote based on an actual moment where I was walking the dog early in the morning, and felt something on my pajama pants which turned out to be a Praying Mantis climbing up my leg. He looked about as startled as I did. I wrote this little moment about it, thinking I would turn it into a contemporary fiction piece. But, I'm not sure where to go with it at all. Thoughts?
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“Owe! What the hell just bit me?!”
The green flutter of wings parachuted toward the grass as Andrea flailed at the waistband of her pajama pants. It marked its landing with a limber body built for climbing, twisted its head back in the direction of the thing that obviously was not a tree, and then disappeared probably just as startled as Andrea was. She blinked and pulled open the pajama pants to look at her bare skin. A tiny red mark was all the stealthy and agile creature had left behind to show that she was not losing her mind. Something had indeed “bit” her, or pinched was more accurate. It took her brain a moment to shift out of the grogginess that was early morning puppy walking, to realize what the bug had been.
“You alright?” Mrs. Cho called from the patio of her apartment where she was watering her flowers.
“I think that was a praying mantis!” was all Andrea could think to reply in shock.
Mrs. Cho chuckled, “He needed to tell you something, then.”
Andrea was still looking around for the creature in the grass, amazed how quickly it had gone from crawling up her pant leg with her completely unaware, to biting her, to….nowhere. “It’s like a ninja bug.” She said under her breath, glancing down at the dachshund pup on a leash beside her. The puppy had an infamous nature with bugs, enjoyed playing with and eating them. But, for the moment, her canine friend simply titled her head and regarded the human beside her as if nothing had happened. For Andrea this gave further proof that the mantis was far more allusive than she had ever known.
“Not a ninja.” Mrs. Cho grinned again, using up the last of her watering pot to drench her hydrangeas. “The mantis is very wise, though. That bite was meant to teach you something, I think.”
Andrea rolled her eyes, and walked back toward the sidewalk, leaving enough slack in the leash for the pup to finish her business in the patch of grass outside the apartment building. “Yeah, it teaches me not to wear pajama pants in the grass, in the summer time.”
Mrs. Cho didn’t bother arguing. The soft wrinkles of the Asian lady’s face pursed in amusement as she shuffled back toward her sliding glass door. “Okay then, go to work. I’ll see you later.”
“Wait, are they poisonous?!” Andrea called after the vanishing silhouette of her neighbor as it stretched across the folds of floral drapes.
“No ninja poison,” was the reply. At least that’s what it sounded like, though it could have been something in Cantonese for all Andrea knew. The floral drapes had muffled Mrs. Cho’s voice and seem to age her usual warble even more with their nineteen seventies pattern. The conversation was done, and the bug was still nowhere to be found.
“This is a strange day.” Andrea mused to the wiggly pup, as she tugged on the leash and the two retreated upstairs to her apartment.
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“Owe! What the hell just bit me?!”
The green flutter of wings parachuted toward the grass as Andrea flailed at the waistband of her pajama pants. It marked its landing with a limber body built for climbing, twisted its head back in the direction of the thing that obviously was not a tree, and then disappeared probably just as startled as Andrea was. She blinked and pulled open the pajama pants to look at her bare skin. A tiny red mark was all the stealthy and agile creature had left behind to show that she was not losing her mind. Something had indeed “bit” her, or pinched was more accurate. It took her brain a moment to shift out of the grogginess that was early morning puppy walking, to realize what the bug had been.
“You alright?” Mrs. Cho called from the patio of her apartment where she was watering her flowers.
“I think that was a praying mantis!” was all Andrea could think to reply in shock.
Mrs. Cho chuckled, “He needed to tell you something, then.”
Andrea was still looking around for the creature in the grass, amazed how quickly it had gone from crawling up her pant leg with her completely unaware, to biting her, to….nowhere. “It’s like a ninja bug.” She said under her breath, glancing down at the dachshund pup on a leash beside her. The puppy had an infamous nature with bugs, enjoyed playing with and eating them. But, for the moment, her canine friend simply titled her head and regarded the human beside her as if nothing had happened. For Andrea this gave further proof that the mantis was far more allusive than she had ever known.
“Not a ninja.” Mrs. Cho grinned again, using up the last of her watering pot to drench her hydrangeas. “The mantis is very wise, though. That bite was meant to teach you something, I think.”
Andrea rolled her eyes, and walked back toward the sidewalk, leaving enough slack in the leash for the pup to finish her business in the patch of grass outside the apartment building. “Yeah, it teaches me not to wear pajama pants in the grass, in the summer time.”
Mrs. Cho didn’t bother arguing. The soft wrinkles of the Asian lady’s face pursed in amusement as she shuffled back toward her sliding glass door. “Okay then, go to work. I’ll see you later.”
“Wait, are they poisonous?!” Andrea called after the vanishing silhouette of her neighbor as it stretched across the folds of floral drapes.
“No ninja poison,” was the reply. At least that’s what it sounded like, though it could have been something in Cantonese for all Andrea knew. The floral drapes had muffled Mrs. Cho’s voice and seem to age her usual warble even more with their nineteen seventies pattern. The conversation was done, and the bug was still nowhere to be found.
“This is a strange day.” Andrea mused to the wiggly pup, as she tugged on the leash and the two retreated upstairs to her apartment.
