Today is a good day.
Today the sun hits my back just so and my pushups are strong. Others stay away from my territory which is
full of ants. I scurry towards a lemon
tree. Stop. Quickly, again, to the palm
tree. But its skin is too slippery for my long claws and I scurry again to the
deep shade of the hedge. It is cool here, but the heat from the sun stays on my
back. I am happy.
I stay still only for a moment, then am off again, rustling
in the underbrush of the hedge and back into the hot sun. I step onto the flat
rocky stuff that holds so much heat, it is even too much for my claws, and
begin to run. There is a wall that leads to an anthill and I am hungry.
I begin to scale the wall. I feel a shadow above me where
there should be none. A huge claw grazes my belly and I am filled with
fear. I scurry up the wall as fast as I
can, but the shadow returns. I am knocked off of the wall, into the dirt below. I do not know where I am, but I must get
away. Shade means protection. I must get
to shade.
I turn in the blink of an eye and attempt once more to run,
but suddenly something hot and wet surrounds me. I feel sharp teeth near my gut. My tail
detaches and falls to the ground.
Out of the hot wet place I am trapped comes a noise. It is a
piercing "meow". I have heard this sound before and I know it means
danger. I go completely limp, knowing that this particular predator only wants
me to wriggle. The piercing cries
continue as I am carried in its mouth. The light changes suddenly from warm
sunshine to diffused light. It is darker. I cannot see because the change is so
fast.
I am released onto a smooth cool surface. It feels like the
palm tree, only cooler and smoother. I try to run, but my claws do nothing. My
movement causes a heavy paw to pick at me. I freeze again. Under my belly I feel vibrations in the
floor. Something huge is coming and I cannot move.
The piercing cries stop when a voice far above me says
"Rosie! Not again! Shit, is it still alive?" I try to breathe slowly,
but my fear makes it difficult. Strange
large claws without sharpness try to trap me, but I am too fast.
"Shit." the voice comes again from above. "C'mere. ROSIE, NO!" I feel the shadow above me again, but something holds it back and the
claws I expect to feel never come. I
scurry to the darkest corner I can find. I am trapped there. There is no
escaping the strange, dull claws that reach for me again and again. At last I
am caught. I feel myself lifted high into the air and once again go limp.
The light abruptly changes back to bright sunshine. I feel
myself being lowered to a rock. The heat from it warms me, but I dare not
move. I hear above me "its ok,
little guy, she's not going to hurt you...but she might catch you again if you
stay here." I realize the danger is leaving. I am not hurt. My tail is
gone. My heart is racing. But I am not hurt. I remain still for a moment more.
Then I run as fast as I can toward the safety of shade I see ahead.
LOVE it!
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