Have you ever been mistaken as possible food by a predator?

July 11, 2023

Have you ever been mistaken as possible food by a predator?

Erin was about 5, and sitting with me on our deck on a summer evening in Takoma Park. By and by she spotted a very large praying mantis, four to five inches long, slowly creeping down a railing post. She moved closer for a better look, and when her face got within 6 inches or so, the creature reared back on its hind legs, thereby bringing the rest of its body more or less parallel with the floor, perpendicular to the railing post. It appeared to be regarding Erin’s face, and made some clutching motions with its front legs at her and moved its horrible mouth parts.

This freaked Erin out a bit, so she backed off; and the bug resumed its downward creeping. But soon Erin came back in close for another inspection, and withdrew again. Each time, as she did so, the insect put itself back into that aggressive position. But after about the sixth repetition of this dance, the creature must have decided it was time to act, and launched itself off the post when Erin was close. It landed directly on the middle of her face, all six legs splayed.

Erin shrieked to wake the neighbors, and I leaped up to sweep the bug off. I’ve often wondered what the creature thought it was going to do with its prize once it caught her, as it flew off into the night.

Uncategorized

3 responses to “Have you ever been mistaken as possible food by a predator?”

Kathleen Dalphonse

July 11, 2023 at 10:18 am

Poor Erin!

LikeLike

Reply
amy

July 11, 2023 at 11:22 am

I can just see it! Curiosity got the cat attacked?

LikeLike

Reply
Beverley Amberg

July 13, 2023 at 11:23 am

Wow, what a creepy-(crawly) story! Erin, you were so brave to move in for a closer inspection; I’m glad your dad was there to save the day! I have never actually been “attacked,” but a number of years ago we were on an open-deck tourist boat out of Walvis Bay, Namibia, with several other passengers– including a number of Giant White Pelicans. They live in the wild, but the captain gives them fish in order to assure their presence onboard. They just fly in and wander around among the passengers, and it’s a great photo-op. Well, one of them must have decided he was tired of fish, so he nipped me on the leg (no harm done). I guess I didn’t taste very good, so he moved on. I suppose you could call this a “close encounter of the bird kind…”
P.S. I am so glad you are continuing to post Elden’s stories!

LikeLike

Reply

About THE BLOG

Thanks for making your way to the The Days of Wine and Roses, and Vasectomies, the personal blog of Elden Carnahan. My dad has been composing these stories as long as I can remember, either on paper or aloud around the dinner table. “You should put all your vignettes together into a book so we can sell it,” my mother would suggest from time to time.

For Christmas 2021, my sister gave Dad a Storyworth account–an online writing platform that sends you a weekly writing prompt in the form of a question. After a year or so of questions, the responses are all assembled into a hardback book. Dad took on the challenge with gusto, answering scores of questions, which often lent themselves to retellings of some of his favorite vignettes.

We’re using this blog to deliver the stories to a broader audience. Some of the posts are direct answers to Storyworth’s questions; others are stories that he wrote for other purposes. I’ll try to provide context and explanation where appropriate. Many of the images accompanying these stories were produced using DALL-E artificial intelligence, using prompts related to the stories.

Please feel free to engage with us by leaving comments, and enjoy!

-April (daughter of Elden)

Days of Wine and Roses, and Vasectomies