Swamp Gas

"Oh!" he cried as the giant dragonfly came into view from around the fronds.

To be a dragonfly! The king of the skies! Even a falcon or a swift paled in comparison of aerial ability.

Now there was a super dogfight going on between no less than six of these winged hunters. Suddenly one broke off from the fight and headed straight towards him. It stopped and hovered not ten inches from his nose and seemed to study him.

His name was Peter and he loved the swamp. It bordered his backyard like a personal Everglades and he spent much of his time there much to the dismay of his mother.

She was the one who would have to wash off the slimy, squiggly things clinging to his clothes when he returned. Then she would complain to his father and he would yell at him and sometimes even.... well anyway. He would yell.

Peter stared back at the ancient insect wondering how it could hover so effortlessly, when it shot straight at him and he felt a "WAP!" right in the middle of his forehead. When he opened his eyes he was confused. What seemed like a thousand scenes all basically the same but yet slightly different confronted him.

AND that tingling between his shoulder blades was going to drive him crazy. "Damn bug really hit me!" he said. But it was funny. He couldn't hear himself like he used to. Then he saw the mosquito. No! The thousand mosquitoes! Suddenly he was pitching and diving and moving at what must be a thousand miles an hour. Whoa! He had the mosquito! It was huge! AND IT WAS TASTY! OH MAN! WHA THE? I ATE A MOSQUITO! NO WAY! I AIN'T GONNA DO THAT AGAIN! WHAM! HE WAS EATING ANOTHER ONE! AND ANOTHER! AND ANOTHER! AND ANOTHER!

Then something green flashed by! He landed on a reed. A REED! I LANDED ON A REED! WHA THA? I AM A DRAGON FLY! Whoa! MUST BE A DREAM! Then he looked around. COOL! It looks like I'm a hundred miles up! The the green thing flashed by again! It was like it just materialized right in front of him! Hovering like a chopper or that neat jet Arnold flew in True Lies! WOW! It was neat; iridescent green with red and white accents. Something stirred in him and when it zipped away he chased. Cool! They were weaving through boughs and stalks. They would suddenly dip and scoop up larva off the water surface and then zoom up into the tops of the trees. It was effortless.

A couple of times a bird tried to intersect his course but Peter soon discovered that his reactions and flying ability were light-years ahead of birds. He could almost lead the birds into disaster. He had lead a swallow into a thickly leaved branch and had it not been for a especially thickly leaved place....Well....

He had more fun that afternoon than in all his ten years. Towards evening he landed on a piece of rubber sticking up out of the water and struck a pose. Here he was, super bug! The master of all the air over the swamp! Tomorrow will be even greater! And with dreams of tomorrow exploding in his mind a small Bluegill snatched him off the Nike of a boy named Peter, in his 10th and final year, as he sat in Dragon's Swamp. It was a hellofaday!