One with Nature

Photo courtesy Sue Vincent

I woke up to a glorious morning, the golden rays of the sun reflecting off the spectacular fields of yellow flowers. “This is not a day to be cooped inside the house,” I told myself as I got up jauntily from my bed, “This is a day to explore, to be one with nature, to live life the way God wanted us to.”

With me, to think was to do, and within minutes, I was out, taking my morning constitutional on the path running between the field, while munching on some organic snacks. The heady mix of fresh air and redolent wildflowers was soporific, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open, when suddenly, I heard a loud bang, and something whizzed past my right ear, just grazing my skin.

Instinct kicked in, and I jumped right into the field of flowers, hoping that the tall flowers would shield me from the eyes of the assassin. The sign on the outer periphery of the field read- Trespassers will be shot. But that was just for show, for I had never really shot anyone, neither did I own, or know how to operate a gun. So why on earth was this guy shooting at me?

My reverie was broken by the sound of soft steps, which my ultra-sensitive ears picked up despite his efforts to avoid making a sound. And it was then that I realized that there were two of them, and I was in bigger trouble than I had thought.

I peeped out from behind a thick clump of flowers, and finally saw them for the first time. They looked similar, but not quite the same. Only one of them carried a gun luckily, though I wasn’t exactly feeling lucky at this point in time. I evaluated my options- fight or flight?

I checked out the terrain once again. I could make a run for it, but I would soon reach open ground, and they would easily take me out then. With flight ruled out, fight was my only option now. So I quickly worked out a battle plan, and then, waited, for them to make their move, so that I could make mine.

Checking every small stretch of the field, the couple slowly walked towards the area in which I was hidden. And when they were just 50 yards away, I put my plan into action.

With a loud roar, I ran straight towards them, picking up speed, and momentum, as I neared them. The gun came up, but it was too slow, and before he could raise it fully, I had hurtled into them at breakneck speed. The poor souls had no idea what had hit them, and fell backwards, hard, over the gravel and loose stones on the path. And by the time they could manage to get up, I was away, free, gone with the wind, so to say.

And back at the spot where they had fallen, Dave picked himself up slowly, checking each bone and joint carefully to see if anything was broken, and then helped Joan, his wife of 40 years, get up.

Washing the dust off her clothes, Joan looked at Dave with a dark look on her face and said in a grim voice, “If you ever tell anyone that we were beaten black and blue by a hare on our very first day as farm owners, I will shoot you with that very gun….and I will not miss.”

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Written in response to the Thursday Photo Prompt – Between at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo. Click on the link to read other stories inspired by the image, which, as usual, is from Sue’s own collection.

 

 

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