part 2
But in the blink of an eye, everything changed!
The heavy rustle of branches directly above me signaled the arrival of the one individual I dreaded facing the most.
My mother, a four-hundred-pound matriarch with zero patience for theatrical antics, crashed through the foliage.
The tourists below let out a collective gasp, quickly taking several synchronized steps backward into the brush.
She didn’t look at the humans; her piercing dark eyes were locked entirely on my upside-down, ridiculous posture.
She saw my raised foot, she saw my strained grin, and most importantly, she saw the flashing blue light peek out from my toes.
With a swift, incredibly precise swipe of her massive, leather-like hand, she grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
The sudden movement caused me to completely lose my grip on the classified tracking device.
It slipped from my foot, tumbling through the green leaves like a falling rock.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable sound of shattered glass, shouting humans, and screaming tactical alarms. 💥
Instead, a loud, hollow thunk echoed through the clearing.
I opened one eye to see that the device had landed perfectly inside the photographer’s open backpack, right on top of his spare sandwich.
The man was so startled by my mother’s sudden appearance that he hadn’t even noticed the extra weight drop into his bag.
My mother hoisted me onto her broad, furry back, giving my ear a sharp, disciplinary nip to remind me who was boss.
She turned away from the clearing, moving with effortless grace back into the deep, impenetrable shadows of the jungle.
As we glided through the canopy, I looked back over her shoulder one last time.
The photographer was furiously checking his camera screen, admiring the upside-down portrait he had just captured.
He was smiling broadly, completely ecstatic about the award-winning wildlife photograph he thought he had earned. 🏆
He had absolutely no clue that he was walking back to his base camp carrying his own stolen, highly classified equipment…
