I Noticed a Creature
The other day, something occurred
It all began with a noise I heard
As I was walking home from the corner store
It was an eerie sound
So I turned around
Something was there that wasn’t before
Some sort of something was watching me
Staring through leaves from the cherry wood tree.
It made a growling chirp, like a hiccup
Then I blinked and took a second glance
It was in a new spot, in a new stance
Peering from behind an old blue pickup
Chances were, I was likely wrong
So, I continued on walking along
Only to look back and see it on the lawn
It was a little bit nearer
It was quite a bit clearer
It was stalking me as I carried on
It was slimy, furry, greenish and grey
Then it pounced up and scurried my way
Hiding in one spot, then off to another
It came my way, cat like and cunning
I turned around and started running
As it came my direction, I went the other
Down through an alley I made my way
Weaving past tables behind the café
In search of a place where noises were loud
I went to the street where shadows and shade
Waltzed along top of a passing parade
So I slipped right into the crowd
It was a perfect place to get misplaced
From an angry monster when being chased
It seemed like a great spot to hide
The beast stayed the course, without fail
He pursued closely, right on my trail
So I went to the sidewalk along the side
EEEEEEEE!
I caught a kite then caught a breeze
And I took a ride into the trees
Over the creek along the street
I made my way to the edge of town
Street lamps lit as the sun went down
Where the city and the suburbs meet
I went past the park along the woods
Over the hedges to the neighborhoods
Wind whistled through the trees like a flute
Across bridges of branches, I frolicked through
Through the canopies, like squirrels do
The beast followed below in fierce pursuit
He had soon gotten close enough
That I could see the grease on his scruff
I could see the sharp on all of his teeth
I watched as his pupils grew in size
With the “I’m gonna eat you” look in his eyes
As he stared at me from the streets beneath
With every step he lurked and crept
Reaching up as he clawed and leapt
He reached his furthest reach
He was a bit too slow
With a jump to low
He tried ten times, he missed ten times each
Then he hit a wall!
Just past that wall I began to fall
A branch I grabbed wasn’t a branch at all
But what seemed like a vine covered in fur
I’d grabbed the tail of a cat, fluffy and fat
Hanging from the branch, below where he sat
Together we fell with quite a stir
I tumbled down through the leaves of Autumn
Hitting apples until I hit the bottom
Into a compost pile in someone’s yard
As I sat there, under that tree
I could hear the beast, sniffing for me
Over that wall from the boulevard
With no time to waste I continued to run
Through a series of yards one by one
There were hedges and fences and gates between
So, I went under a couple and over a few
Then there were some that I went right through
I bounced over some on a trampoline
As the fog rolled in bringing the cold
It covered dangers that backyards hold
It was thick and smelled of barbeque smoke
There were toys and tools all over the ground
There were swimming pools to get around
Hidden under that foggy cloak
Twigs from the shrubs grabbed at my pants
With the prickly stickies from Bur-hickery plants
Through the windows, TV’s flickered and glowed
I got tangled in laundry from laundry lines
I got lassoed up by the lasso vines
In a yard that must have never been mowed
I swung over ponds on tire swings
As goldfish nipped at my sneaker strings
I went slipping down a slip-n-slide
Magpies watched from the power cables
Raccoons threw burgers from the picnic tables
I tripped over junk where all the skunks hide
For a moment, the beast was out of sight
But I heard the sounds of his appetite.
As his belly grumbled, the ground shook
He rustled closer, through thackleberry thorns
I heard branches scraping as they hit his horns.
It grew louder with each step that he took
I dashed toward a fence out in the back
Squeezing narrowly through a splintery crack
There, the world got lost in the towering grass
Cattails poofed, as they’d flicker and quiver
The sounds of the town seemed to drown in the river
Startled grasshoppers would scatter and pass
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Then, while in a fit and a rush
I stumbled out of the bristly brush
Along the ridge and down the slope
Snails were sliming, crickets were chirping
Moths fluttered, frogs were burping
I ran to the bridge made of wood and rope
Then,
On that rickety bridge, about halfway across
Sat a slimy bug on a patch of moss
A bug of the slipperiest kind
Just as I passed, I slipped on the slime
Falling down at the very worst time
When I stood up, the beast stood behind
I could feel the beast breathe down my neck
I knew he was there, but I didn’t check
I just stood still, I was scared to death
He wheezed and huffed as he stood right there
Like a humidifier steaming my hair
A humidifier with bad breath
The bridge shook with every sniff that he took
I turned around slowly to take a look
I needed to see whose dinner I would make
Then, the lanky beast leaned in real close
To gobble me up dose by dose
As he stared down at me, like I was a steak
His fangs were the shape of sugar cones
He’d surely clean those teeth with my bones
He opened his mouth, he grabbed me tightly
When he was about to bite off my head
That’s when something else happened instead
He said to me, very politely……
“Dear boy, dear lad
You are a sprightly one
Thanks for the jog, its best I’ve had
It’s really been quite fun
You dropped your wallet back at the store
Between the bushes and the sliding door
Just where I happened to be
Before you’ve gone away too far
I have it here, here you are
Call me sometime, we’ll go for tea”
He handed me the wallet.
As I was shaking, I could barely stand
He gave me my wallet and shook my hand
He thanked me again for the jog.
Before I could speak, before I could think
He sprung into the dark, as quick as a blink
He disappeared into the fog.