پیاده‌روی عصرانه

Chapter five

An Evening Walk

Through the afternoon, it seemed that the puma’s pain got worse.

The screams grew louder and louder. I put my fingers in my ears, but still the screams filled my head.

Finally I had to escape from the room. I went outside, but the noise from the laboratory was even louder there.

I walked quickly away from the house and into the forest, until I could not hear the puma any more. At last I felt calmer.

I came to a stream. It was a pleasant place, protected from hot afternoon sun by the tall trees above.

I sat down to rest. Suddenly, I saw something moving in the shadows on the other side of the stream. It came closer. What was it?

It moved towards the stream. It was an animal, coming for a drink. It drank thirstily, with its head down at the water. I looked more carefully. It was not an animal! It was a man, dressed in blur clothes.

But this man was using his hands as feet, and he was drinking like a cat!

I moved to see him better. He heard me and looked up. Our eyes, met. He stood up quickly and dried his mouth with his hand.

His legs were much shorter than his body. He looked at me for a minute, then walked slowly away.

I too started walking. I did not feel comfortable by the stream now. I crossed it and went uphill. I was surprised by a bright red piece of ground, in the middle of the green of the plants. I looked closer.

There was a dead rabbit there, half eaten and still warm. I thought about its killer - a dangerous animal or. that strange man by the stream?

I realised that I knew nothing about the dangers of the animals or people in the forest. It was a bad idea to walk alone in a strange place like this. I decided to go back to the house I started running.

I almost ran straight out into an open space, but stopped myself just in time. In this space between the trees, I saw three strange people. One was clearly female, the other two male.

They had rough pink skin, and small bits of red clothes tied around their bodies. Their faces were heavy and shapeless, and they had almost no hair on their heads.

Their legs were unusually short, and their feet were very small, with no toes. They talked quietly together - or were they singing?

They moved their bodies from side to side in a kind of dance, and repeated the same words again and again, Memories of Sundays in church came back to me. Were these strange people practising their religion?

I continued to watch them. There was something animal about these people. At first this idea was not clear in my mind. But then one of the men fell to the ground. For a few seconds he was using his arms as legs, and suddenly I realised.

With their rough pink skin and heavy faces, these people were like pigs!

I moved away from them as quietly as possible and walked towards the beach. Suddenly, thirty metres in front of me, I saw the man who was drinking at the stream earlier.

His eyes shone green as he looked at me. Then he disappeared between the trees. I did not move. I could still feel his eyes on me.

‘Who are you?’ I shouted. But there was no answer, and I could see nothing in the shadows of the forest.

I realised now that it was getting dark. I needed to reach the house quickly. The idea of a night alone in the middle of the forest was too terrible to think about.

I started walking again. I felt that someone was following me. But each time I looked back, I saw nothing. For a long time I could not find the beach.

I went one way, then another, losing hope. But finally I heard the sea. I followed the sound, and after a few minutes the forest opened onto the beach. Gratefully, I started walking along the sand.

When I stopped for a rest, a shadow behind me stopped too. ‘Who’s there?’ I asked shakily. The thing did not reply.

As I stepped hack, my foot hit a stone. With my eyes still on the shadow, I slowly picked it up. Seeing my movement, the thing moved away.

Crazy with fear, I now ran.

I heard feet behind me, and I ran faster.

The yellow light from the house was in front of me, but still far away, too far. The thing behind me was getting closer and closer.

It jumped at me, and I turned towards it with the stone in my hand. The stone hit its head, and it fell down onto the sand.