May Fly slapped yet another gnat off her arm.
A holiday in the Congo was great and all, but the wildlife was proving to be less than hospitable. Well: I say holiday, but it was more of a business trip.
May was the daughter of famed explorers/ botany enthusiasts Dakota and Nigel Fly- who were on their latest foraging trip. They were searching for the rare Gaia-Diablo, or Venus monkey trap to the locals.
Obviously May wasn’t allowed to tag along; it was ‘Too dangerous’ and ‘What if she got lost?’. Personally May thought her parents were just worried she’d find the imfamous plant and take all of the credit for herself.
So May decided to busy herself by trying to get a tan.
Sprawled in a deckchair in her shorts and seen-better-days-t-shirt, May swept her ginger hair away from her sweaty forehead and scratched her arm.
Damn gnats.
May supposed she should be wearing suntan lotion, as her mother was forever fussing about her ‘fair skin’. But- to be honest- if her mum wanted May to be under supervision, then she should have allowed May to come with them.
So there.
… That told them.
Let them come back to a sun-dried daughter.
The sweltering sun smiled down lazily on the dewy canopy, bouncing off every glistening bead that dripped off the emerald leaves. Camouflaged lizards basked in the heat on the rocks and slithered around on the patchy, coarse grass. One lizard in particular had decided the best spot for warmth was right on May’s neck.
A random Howler Monkey howled (Well, what else would it do?) in the distance, startling a whole flock of birds. They shrieked their dismay as they flapped hurriedly over Mays head, their vibrant feathers catching the sun’s rays in such a way they merged into one gorgeous rainbow trailblazing across the cloudless sky. Lianas swayed peacefully in the aftermath of the disturbance: and the ends grazed over mushrooms so decayed they crumbled and melted at the slight touch.
May was so bored she could eat one of those mushrooms, just to pass the time.
“I’m booooooooorrrreeed…” She groaned to the lizard on her neck.
The lizard merely shifted into a better position. Actually, the lizard was quite good company.
“And I’m boiling!”
The lizard flicked its tail.
As May fanned herself with a feathery leaf she decided the lizard should be her pet.
“Mum and Dad should be back soon,” She said to her new pet, “but I can’t let them see you. You might be a whole new species! And they might pin you to a board with a plaque… or is that butterflies?
This time the lizard didn’t even bother to move.
“What do you eat little guy? I hope it’s not human flesh. I had a pet spider from this island we went to- I called him Billy. Then one night I woke up and I was missing a whole chunk of my ear!” Her finger traced along the jagged edge of her earlobe. “… I think I panicked and squashed him.”
YOU ARE READING
Origin (ON HOLD)
ActionLife was normal for Stanley Shrew, disappointing and uneventful. He even had his Mother making her lamb stew for tea that night. Then he stumbled across the story. The big story. The story that could change his life for the better. All he had to do...