Page 111 - TheGoldBug1969-70

lring)970 page 7 Only days ago I received the shock of my ephemeral life. I had been nibbling delicately at a leaf on the plant where my gentle mother had deposited her eggs when the sky was blotted out. The air grew hot, close, and was filled with strange noises. Fear and foreboding paralized me as the darkness enveloped me - was I being taken by some large winged creature as I had seen others of my kind taken? They never returned. I saw one winged creature actually devour one of us, its odd pointed mouth pulling and tearing at him as we do leaves. It was ghastly. As the black enveloped me, the heated air vanished. ~~~~:h~;d~~iS:t~:~est~6~~e ~~afl~:~e:~~~ki~'~ ~~~tO~~~ sticky!" Then I was unceremoniously dumped into the Pit. I lay stunned on the bottom for a while, examining my surroundings with avid interest. I was bitterly dis- appointed to find that there was no way of escape, for a dark, hard thing with holes far too small for a healthy caterpillar to pass through covered the mouth of the Pit, and the sides and bottom of the Pit were frustratingly clear. Just as I realized that in a very short time I was to perish even if I was not devoured (what sensible cater- pillar does not eat constantly during the daylight hours"), a hideous 'rasping vibration screeked in the Pit. The covering vanished from its mouth, and a few leaves from my plant dropped in, accompanied by the same hot air and lack of sky that had heralded my arrival in the Pit. That cJaw- like structure that had grasped me scraped in- effectively but terrifyingly against my shelter of leaves in one of the longer pauses between blusters of air. Fear controlled my body; it was absolutely rigid when the hideous rasping vibrations were repeated and the Pit cover was replaced. A tremendous dilemma now faced me. I could eat the sheltering leaves and prolong my life (and my agony) perhaps until I was of cocoon-spinning age, or I could remain hidden and inaccessible to the Claw until I died, which would not be long now. Weakness was settling my many limbs, and soon a complete inability to move would incapacitate me further. While I huddled against the clear side of the Pit, it incredibly became airborne. There was a swift, smooth upward motion followed by an irregular horizontal one. This was terrifying because the walls of the Pit had be- come an unappetizing pink and I could .see nothing. I was joggled and thrown about to the extent that I was certain I would not be permitted to choose my own death - each bounce brought me closer to being impaled The inimitable CONTRAST staff wishes to thank the GOLD (lUG for its space and cooperation, with on a jagged bit of the Pit's covering. Time between the special thanks to Mary Rutledge. bounces and joggles grew shorter, but they continued for 1. Hiauce,ed. an eternity of horror and violent fear before the horizon- tal motion jerked still. A swift descent to the grass ended with a thud and my being brought nearer to impalement than ever. As I attempted to quell my quaking body and to resettle beneath the leaves, the strange cry. of my capturer sounded once more. I peeked cautiously through the now-clear walls of the Pit to see two trees bowing, of beauty there was beast untitled bending and making noises in my direction. Had I survived the multiple horrors of crushing, of trappings meek and leather worn impalement, and threatened starvation to be delivered by some impossible new trees into the pointed mouth of a godly knight forlorn a large winged creature? My being shudders in fright even now. Fantastic as it seems, the very intensity of my not to partake of feast fear caused me to lose it. I longed to be relieved of the intense strain of living in this manner. No mode of for it was his way-that death seemed unwelcome if only it would come soon. Hypnotized by the rising and falling of the sound he should strike for shore level into a false relaxation, I was again astonished when and cast the Pit resumed its upward, then bouncing horizontal motion. Once more I huddled in dread of impalement his prayers upon the sand; until at last the longed for descent arrived. The rasping sound returned as the Pit settled, this time more gently. the moon of hide does The cover of the Pit vanished as the Pit itself turned on a side. My amazement was complete. 'moved to the very " seek to bend mouth of the Pit that no longer a Pit, then reared back in a shaft upon his footprint etching a renewal of terror. That same hot wind had touched my back. Then a touch of cooler air enticed me to the then retain its shrouded state mouth of the Pit once more. Cautiously I inched my head out of the Pit to sniff the infinitely inviting fra- of haze grance of my plant. The hunger that had evaporated in my extreme fright returned with a vengeance that made to let old silken ~ind me abandon all thought but that of reaching food. erase That was days ago. Now I am replete with leaves and about to start a new phase of life, secure in a co- this beastly work of beauty b~ Tom Barnes coon. I am resolved and hardened against any peril that adult butterfly-hood may offer. by Laura Haney