Prey Pray

prey — to have an injurious, destructive or wasting effect on something

pray — to entreat or implore

It’s not every day you see benign terrorism unfold in a grocery store. While checking in with the fraying neurons of my memory for what I forgot on aisle six, a flurry of activity brought me back to real time. A cashier, two shoppers and a bearded man scurried to, then hovered, around a life-sized, cardboard replica of a football player advertising Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. If I were to react based on body language, I would have ducked and taken cover. Considering the multiple events of violence humans continue to manifest on one another, it would have been a natural reaction. But as I attended to the scene, I noticed the shoppers disperse and the bearded man walk away shaking his head and waving his hands as if to say, “Don’t involve me.” The lone cashier stood vigil. Then I saw it; a very large praying mantis cloaked in a green wingspan-a contrast on the yellow display.

I didn’t hesitate to approach the situation with a take-charge confidence. The cashier stepped between me and the winged “prophet” and said, “Don’t kill it. I love all animals.”

I assured her that was not on my agenda as I carefully scooped up the misplaced in-sect. It’s triangular head and folded front feet poked out of my cupped hands. I spoke to it gently as I maneuvered around shopping carts and customers. Luckily, there were several large perennials just outside the store. I freed my catch in the middle of a leafy refuge. As I walked back through the sliding glass doors, the cashier pointed me out to her co-workers as the “lady who saved the praying mantis.”

This started me thinking about the state of unrest in our country. It was easy for me to jump in and rescue a misplaced creature. Others stood by and watched. One did not want to get involved and one expressed sympathy but let someone else take responsi-bility. The current political climate preys on our sensibility and has reversed the evolu-tionary order of things. The angst and subsequent anguish resulting from depression, despair, loneliness and isolation has driven humans to commit unspeakable acts; upon themselves and others. Easy access to weapons in the hands of those who want to de-stroy is shredding the cloak of humanity. Streets in cities around the country are stages for protests citing injustices perpetrated on those because of the color of their skin. Peo-ple are polarized and the chasm seems to be widening. Instead of coming together in times of unrest, we are moving farther apart. It is beyond my understanding. We should care about what happens to one another; seek to do no harm.

I am sure once the rescued mantis regained his bearings, he/she went back to doing what comes natural to the mantis religiosa; terrorizing other insects. Such an interesting concept; the creature who prays, also preys. Not so different from the human strain I guess.

The door

Door. The door.

The door is unlocked.

The door is unlocked and

unguarded. The door

is unlocked and unguarded and.

The door is unlocked and unguarded

and ready to. The door is unlocked

and unguarded and ready to open.

Door. The door. The door is

unlocked.

Gwynn Wills is a former speech therapist, certified Amherst Writers and Artists workshop Affiliate and Leader and founder of The Calliope Writers Group. After growing up in Crawfordsville, her and her husband returned several years ago.