Turning Over Rocks

For the last column of this year, I’m going to do something totally different. Instead of making you wait to the end for the reveal, I’m gonna tell you right now: don’t turn over rocks! You may not like what you find hiding underneath. There! See how much time I’ve saved you? But if you want to keep on reading, there is a story in front of that ending. A story that starts a long, long time ago on that old familiar street not so far away called Flamingo.

During those seven magical years spent growing up on Flamingo, one of the best adventures we had was a simple hike in the woods down by Cripple Creek. Each of our hikes was different. On some, we just knew we were lost – until we realized we’d been traveling in a circle before finding ourselves back home. During many of our hikes we’d have to cut paths through thick briars with our machetes or squeeze through a forest of bamboo. On a few, we even had to wade down the middle of Cripple Creek when the forest on either side of the banks was too thick to cut through. But through all our many hikes, there was one constant: no rocks were left unturned.

My three brothers, The Sister, and I always turned over rocks to see what was hiding underneath. That was the most fun thing about being on a hike in the woods. You never knew what you’d find. Here are just a few of the many creatures we surprised when overturning their happy homes.

Small is sometimes big and dangerous.

Twin Brother Mark was the one who turned over a rock about the size of his fist. I think he was actually going to throw it at one of us. That is until he dropped it and started to scream, “Black Widow! Black Widow! Black Widow!” Sure enough, as Mark jumped back, we all crept over to see. There, where the rock was once, was a black widow spider on its back, legs wiggling as it tried to turn back over. As far as I know, the spider lived a long spider life because we all ran away. We knew there were only a few things you don’t mess with in the woods, and a black widow spider was near the top of the list.

Big and wiggly.

Big Brother James was the next to turn over a rock on our Saturday morning hike along Cripple Creek. Luckily, he didn’t find any additional spiders, but he did find a family of huge night crawlers. The worms were the best kind for fishing, so we convinced James to scoop them up and save them. As he stuffed them into his pockets, we continued with our hike.

Tiny and fast.

Older Brother Richard overturned the next rock, and hiding underneath was a very upset red scorpion. Now for those of you who don’t know, scorpions don’t take kindly to being disturbed, and yes, they are tiny but also really fast. A scorpion sting is more painful than one from a bee or wasp – just ask Richard. By the time we got home, his hand was the size of his foot.

A good turn.

The Sister decided she didn’t want to flip over any rocks, but we convinced her to try. Luckily for her, it was a family of lady bugs and a couple of snails. Ladybugs tickle when they crawl up your arms…snails not so much. Then it was my turn, but Richard’s hand was really hurting, so we decided to turn around and head back home, but then I saw a flat rock about the size of a dinner plate. 

No one’s home…almost.

Even if there was nothing under it, I knew the rock would make a huge splash in the creek. I carefully lifted the edge and flipped it over. Nothing dangerous. Just a few roly-polys and a large hole about the size of a quarter. After the huge splash in the water, I walked back up the bank when the question came. 

“What do you think is in that hole?” 

That’s when I poked a long, thin twig down the middle of the hole. It met resistance, so I slowly started to pull it back. What slithered out wasn’t happy. It hissed and then struck! We all threw a rock and then ran all the way back home!

The new year will be here by the time you read this column, and I look at last year’s memories like those rocks we found while hiking along Cripple Creek. Some are okay to turn over and look under, and some are just better left unturned. You never know what will slither out to ruin the new year…like that diamondback rattlesnake almost ruined ours.