An Unexpected Passenger

nature, Personal Reflection 1 Minute

Today, while driving, I suddenly noticed moving legs above my sun visor.

This has happened to me before and it was a giant huntsman spider (including his legs, about the size of the palm of my hand). Then, as now, an involuntary gasp escaped me and I immediately looked for a place to pull over. Then, I was on a winding mountain road and was lucky to find a place quickly. I leapt out and hunted for a stick with which to evict my unwelcome guest. A kindly motor bike rider offered assistance. I assured him that between me and the stick, we would sort El Arachnid out. I don’t clearly remember the outcome but I think I managed to flick him out onto the road and he ran under the car and disappeared.

Today, however, when I took a second glance at the sun visor, I realised that the legs were green and that my unexpected passenger was a praying mantis. I felt no immediate threat from him but did keep an eye on him as I drove. He seemed to watch me too, his head that stereotypical alien shape with bulbous eyes slimming down to pointy mouth parts.

When opportunity allowed it, I pulled over near an oval and went and picked a couple of strong stems of grass. With these, I managed to persuade him to grab hold of one and I transported him to the grass, hoping it would supply sufficient camouflage.

Half an hour later, when I told my Dad of the encounter, he told me that he had once picked up a praying mantis and it had bitten him hard enough to draw blood. I was glad, I had gone the grass stem option. Dad also told me that his mother (my grandmother) had a praying mantis living in her kitchen for a while and she would feed it dead flies. Dad imitated the action of the insect as it accepted her gifts. I grinned. My grandmother was such an animal lover. This was a fabulous image of her to carry with me through the day. I smile again now, just thinking about it.

Published by abigfatcanofworms

We all walk in the dark. But if we hold hands, perhaps the dark won't be as scary.

Published

25 thoughts on “An Unexpected Passenger”

    2. Recently, I was driving and there was a spider (small North American variety, and nowhere near as threatening as a huntsman spider) in my car and I still screamed and had to pull over to the shoulder to avoid a car accident! I cannot imagine dealing with a huntsman! But yes, a praying mantis sounds like a much better passenger!

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      2. Thanks. Yes another person made a comment which needn’t have upset me but it did because my post was very personal. I figured the person hadn’t understood it and therefore I hadn’t got my meaning across. I think I will try it without a word limit.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Hi–your link in the Mister Linky for the dVerse Prosery prompt goes to an error page. I didn’t know how else to reach you. I will remove it. If you have a Prosery post, please add it so everyone can enjoy it!
    That spider would have freaked me out! One of my daughters has a praying mantis phobia, so this would have really scared her! I like the story of your grandmother. 😀

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