They referred to it as, the sinister bog. For years rumors about it scurried around
the village like rodents on holiday. No
one dared go into it, for it was said they’d never come back out.
I was the newcomer to the village. I didn’t pay much attention to the rumors,
and never spread any myself, but also, I never wandered in the direction of the
bog. I saw no need. I was sure it contained snakes, mosquitoes
and alligators, none of which I cared to encounter.
Then yesterday happened.
Nora, the child from the family that lives next door came over. She was quite upset and said I needed to go
and look for her dad. He had gone into
the bog and had yet to return. I
questioned her as to why he had gone there, but by the time I had finished my
question she was sobbing too much for me to make out anything she was saying.
She walked up closer to me, grabbed my sleeve and led me
over to their small, flat bottom boat.
Then she pointed to the bog, as if suggesting I take the boat and head
in. I knelt down and looked her in the
eyes.
“Give me a minute, I want to get my bug spray. If I’m doing this, I want a fighting chance.”
I went back into my house and sprayed
myself down, head to toe.
When I came
back out, she was gone. The boat was
there and one oar. I pulled the boat over to the edge of the bog. The minute it was afloat I got in and pushed
out with the oar to deeper water.
I was no sooner ducking branches and maneuvering around giant
tree roots when I encountered my first swarm of insects. It didn’t take long to realize I had not
sprayed around my eyes. My first bite was
next to my right eye and stung like the dickens. I set the oar down in the boat and wiped my
hands on my neck to get some excess repellant onto my hands. Then I closed my eyes and whipped my palms across
my eyelids. I was hoping that was enough
to discourage the biters. In the
meantime, the right side of my eye was swelling up. If it closed my eye completely, I’d have to
turn back.
I couldn’t understand why Alex would come into this bog, or
how was he doing it? I had his boat.
My nerves were on edge.
Every sound, every slight splash caught my attention. I imagined alligators swimming silently
towards the boat, while all the time my eyes were scanning the branches for low
hanging snakes. This wasn’t how I had
planned my day. Compared to Alex, I was
a city-boy. I had no business in this
bog. And what was I going to do once I
found him?
“Hi Alex, remember me?
I’m your neighbor. Your daughter is
getting worried about you and asked me to come find you.”
Even I think I sound like a lunatic, but what the heck. I yelled, “Alex?” and then I waited,
listening for some kind of response.
Okay, I’m sure that last splash was an alligator. I was right.
I could see him off to my left and just ahead. My yelling must have startled him. He was heading away from me, which I liked. I yelled out again. “Alex?”
It was immediately after my second yell when I noticed
something that scared me. It was like
someone had hit a bog mute button. Absolutely
everything in the bog went silent. There
were no bug sounds, no birds, nothing.
If eerie had a sound, this would be it.
My inner voice was telling me to turn back. I set the oar across my lap and let the boat
coast to a stop. I might have just
enough room between these tree roots to turn around, but I felt too wigged-out
to move.
I had never realized before how
the absence of sound could be so loud.
My heart was pounding, and I suddenly wanted to know what all the bugs
knew. Why had they all stopped
chattering? Was there something sinister heading my way?
To be continued.
zc
