When we went exploring along the marsh trails and waterfront of Muddy Bay, near Georgetown, S.C., we were warned to beware of the "Giant Ghostly Gull". Folklore has it that the Gull is a man-killer but is seen only rarely in the tidewater marshes. When hungry, it kills with a single peck and swallows with a single gulp. It can swoop down without any warning and gobble up children and adults with equal ease. Such stories, when told in the dimming twilight can cause shivers and fears, even on a warm evening.
But, of course, we are educated people and we don't believe in such nonsense; so we went confidently exploring, paddling and wading the lowlands, and trekking over sand dunes on the small islands, thinking the most dangerous thing we might confront would be a diseased mosquito.
Then, we came across this track.
What could it be? One of us mentioned the story of the Monstrous Gull, but we all laughed that off. Silly, we thought. Such things don't exist.
A bit farther along, we came upon this mound of detritus and more tracks like we had just seen. This appeared to be, for all the world, what some people call "droppings." To others of a scientific bent, it would be called "scat." To us, it looked like very large birdshit. And in the middle of it, was a shiny turquoise barrette, such as might be worn by a little girl.
Stopping to study the signs, we were rapt in our envelope of concentration. And then ..... it fell upon us from the sky. Oh, it is true so true, there are things beyond our simple understanding, things of great horror and evil. Things that the police will never understand.
3 comments:
I am goose-bumpy just thinking about it, even safe at home, miles from the beach.--Marsha
Is that your leg?
Is that whose leg?
Not mine.
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