OK. This is how I beat the attack of the fear monster. There we were -- Buddy and me -- sitting up in that tree all by ourselves in the pitch dark, waiting for some animal to come to the drinking spot below. I was not too scared at that point, because we were safe up in the tree. But then we heard a noise. And it sounded big. Way big.
First, I thought it could maybe be a bear, and that thought made me feel like somebody was trying to choke me all of a sudden. But then I remembered there hasn't been a bear sighting in our city for over a hundred years. Not even in this neighborhood park on the fringes of town. We didn't have any wolves or lions, either. After that, I calmed down a little. Then, I realized the crickets were still making a noise (and even a few frogs), so whatever animal it was, it couldn't be too dangerous.
Then Buddy whispered, "Turn the light on, Dub!" (He always calls me that. It's short for W.)
Which I was just about to do when I fumbled getting the clip off my belt and dropped it. KERPLUNK! Right in the water. Then we both went sort of ballistic. How could we get back to the Outpost in the dark? Should we sit up in this tree until Uncle Joe came back? What if something weird bit us? I think maybe we even hollered.
That's when we noticed there were no more frog sounds. Even the crickets were quiet. We were making so much noise we scared everything off. I mean-- it was just like Uncle Joe said -- even the bugs were afraid of us. And that's when it happened. I lost my fear. I mean, it was gone. Zip. Totally.
So, we jumped down from the tree and fished out the flashlight. On account of that creek is only two feet at its deepest spot, anyway. And the flashlight was waterproof. Then we climbed back up and finished what we came there to do. And I'm telling you, it felt pretty darn good, too. Oh -- and get this -- I was never afraid of the dark anywhere else anymore, either. Not even open closets. How cool is that?
Have a great weekend, and don't forget to practice some survival stuff!
W.K.
No comments:
Post a Comment