Which are you?
I just read that, when faced with
something dire, a person will fight.
Or a person will fly.
Sometimes, we don't know which one we
are until the climactic moment.
Allow me to illustrate.
My bedroom was across and down the hall
from the bathroom.
And I wasn't an 'early-to-bedder'.
These two facts will become relevant .
. .
I had been reading.
Something I did every night.
For a very long time.
I finally decided it was time to get
ready for bed.
Which included brushing and scrubbing.
And all things hygienic.
I should point out that all other
members of my household had long been asleep.
Or so I thought.
I finished my evening ablutions. (Oooh!
Good word!)
And, clutching my toiletries bag,
headed for my bedroom.
Now the words 'across and down the
hall' may sound like a long distance.
It wasn't.
But it was enough.
And it was dark.
I darted toward my door.
And was just reaching for the doorknob
when a voice came out of the darkness.
“What are you doing!”
Okay, it was the voice of my father, so
it shouldn't have given me the fright it did.
But the fact remains – I was
frightened.
And then, the ultimate response.
Fight?
Or fly.
Let me describe:
Pitch dark hall.
Household asleep.
Girl with large imagination and small
intellect dashing across the hall.
Quickly, so as to avoid things that
might come out of the darkness and 'get her'.
Voice rumbles out of said darkness.
What does girl do?
Fight?
Fly?
No.
Girl crumples to the floor.
I am not making this up.
My legs folded up and I fell to the
floor.
When faced with a crisis, or so I
thought, I curled up.
Like a little spider.
But with less legs.
So, which are you?
Fight?
Or fly?
When you decide, let me know.
I will be the shivering little puddle of goo.
Curled up on the floor.
Sigh.
