Based on real events
Every summer, people want to go on vacation to the sea or the coast. And I am no exception. On my resort vacation I went to a small coastal town, to sunbathe on the golden beaches and swim in the warm Sea. Since this is not my first vacation in this town, so I know that the best place to stay is not in the city itself, but on a long, narrow strip of land jutting out into the sea. There are sanatoriums, hotels, holiday resorts and private houses there, but I rented a small cottage in a private area, where there are a few small cottages with their own gazebos.
This resort vacation was memorable, but not because of the pleasant sun and warm sea, but because of an unusual hunt that I was lucky enough to observe.
In the evenings, I enjoyed sitting in my gazebo, drinking tea or coffee, eating something, and enjoying nature. One evening, I noticed that large dark dots with legs began to appear on the white walls of the cottages, at the same time as the sun approached the horizon. They were large spiders with black, fat rear ends crawling out of crevices where they had hidden from the heat of the day. They prepared for dinner and took up their positions near their webs or began carefully spinning new ones. They usually caught mosquitoes, which are always abundant in this area because there is a lagoon with reeds on the other side of the spit.
One day, families with children moved into the cottages next to mine. The children of my temporary neighbors, who were of different ages, even after an active rest on the beach, were full of energy. So they gathered and played together in the yard of the private area at any time of day. But when other children were either showering, eating, or just relaxing in their cottages, a ten-year-old boy walked alone in the yard, waiting for his new friends. Suddenly, he noticed a spider on the wall, then another one, and another one, and so on.
It was fun to watch him. He was very happy with his discovery and showed it to the other children when they came to play. Then all the children immediately began to look for all the spiders that had climbed out of their shelters. At first, the children studied them curiously and looked for to find the biggest one, but soon the bravest in the group picked up a stick and started poking at the spiders because it was much more fun that way. I felt sorry for the spiders, but they could escape from their short-statured pursuers or hide in cracks.
It was fun to watch them hunt. They ran after each other from cottage to cottage to look at a spider that had just emerged, then scatter in different directions with cries when the bravest of them all destroyed the spider’s web with a stick and it fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, it began to get dark very quickly, and the silent hunters arrived for their bloody hunt. Local mosquitoes bit very often, very painfully, and very quickly. They did not hesitate to bite even on the heels. I was prepared to meet them by buying various mosquito repellents in advance. But the children who were hunting spiders were so absorbed in their pursuit that they did not notice the mosquitoes hunting them. None of them cared about the small but numerous bites. Hunting spiders was more important than some annoying mosquitoes.
Suddenly, the parents from different cottages called their children to their vacation home, and they immediately ran off to their families. After this none of the children was outside anymore. It was already too late for games. Now the spiders could eat in peace, and the mosquitoes – well, they were already full.
The next morning, the children looked a little swollen from the mosquito bites, but their parents immediately bought sprays, ointments, and other remedies to protect their little hunters from the cruel mosquitoes.
I was able to watch this hunt for a few more evenings until my vacation came to an end. But I returned home with unusual memories.
The moral of the story is: Even as a hunter, you can become the target of another hunter.
Isn’t that so?
