More Muddy

I’m so tired right now. I had a few days of pretty much sitting on my butt, and then today was crazy busy at work, and then my daughter and I went grocery shopping, so my legs are tired.

I spoke to the manager of the clinic that I’m most interested in. It sounds like it has potential. If we can come to a pay scale agreement, I think I might just take the position. It’s a year long for a maternity leave for the current therapist, who will be leaving in September, and then we can see where to go from there, if all goes well. I’m optimistic and hopeful, but you never know what God wants of you, so I’ll have to see.

On with more of the story.

***

"Fuckin’ hell. It’s them!" Teddy’s voice was a harsh whisper as if he feared being overheard by the savage animals.

"Look at them!" Muddy leaned forward, leaning his forearms on the steering wheel. Watching the intense ferocity of the attacking animals caused Muddy to wince in sympathy for the kangaroo and his slaughtered cattle.

"That’s bloody unbelievable," breathed Teddy. "You ever seen anything like it?"

Muddy shook his head in slow negation. "Never. You know, I saw Taz devils once. They acted kind of like that, but I’m sure they were bigger than those bastards, and I know they’re nocturnal. You’d hear ’em screeching and snarling all night long. It was bloody awful. But not as horrible as that."

By now, the kangaroo had stopped kicking. The rest had made good their escape and the dust had settled. Blood spread in the dirt beneath the squirming pile of predators and prey.

"You think we could bag one or two from here?" Teddy asked.

"We can try." Muddy reached for the rifle in the rack behind his head. "You’re a better shot than me. You have a go. And for God’s sake, don’t get out of the truck. Lean out the window. If there’s any of them underfoot, I don’t want your legs eaten off you. And I doubt they can jump as high as the window."

Teddy rolled the window down and hoisted himself to sit on the door. He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and took careful aim. His first shot kicked up a puff of dust. The predators ignored it and continued their voracious feeding. His second shot spun one of the animals out of the cluster. He prepared for a third attempt.

"Hang on, Teddy," said Muddy. "Watch."

Teddy lowered the rifle and did as Muddy had said. Several of the pack had turned on their fallen comradce and were tearing it to pieces.

"That’s not going to get us any samples, is it?" Teddy said. "Hope the traps work."

"So do I. Let’s watch these ones for a bit. The rate they’re going, they’ll be done soon. I want to try following them and find out where they set up housekeeping. We’ll set more traps there."

"You don’t think too many of them will try to get in? They might end up eating each other." Teddy handed the rifle to Muddy and slid back inside the truck.

"I’ll be happy to feed them all to each other and keep the last survivor for the scientists or whatever they are." Muddy watched with uneasy fascination as the animals tore the kangaroo apart. His traps might not work, but there were all he had at the moment.

Before too long, the swarm of creatures abandoned the remnants of the kangaroo and moved away. Their motion reminded Muddy of watching a flock of birds or a large school of small fish. They seemed to flow like water and it was hard to follow any single creature. He should have brought a video camera along. He’d have one in the truck at all times from now on.

Teddy made a sudden wordless exclamation and dug in his pocket. He pulled out a small cell phone. "Almost forgot about this," he said. "My daughter gave me this a couple days ago. It takes movies, if I can remember how." He opened it and began to fiddle with the controls.

Muddy shifted the truck into first and began to follow the flowing pond of predators. He aimed to get behind them in a position that would afford Teddy the best chance to get a photo of video, whichever he managed to figure out first. When they got back to his place, they could upload the images and email them to Eva in Canada. He looked forward to seeing her reaction.

***

Okay, that’s it for today. See you again soon.