Mike Dixon

one of the contestants conceded defeat and flew off, dis-
charging the contents of its bowels on the way. The slimy
green liquid splashed down and Humphrey was reminded of
a warning on the Internet.
Bat poo can eat into the bodywork of your car.
He decided to vacate the area and set off down a winding
path leading to a miniature rainforest. The wildlife seemed
less threatening there. Vines dangled from trees and furry
things moved in the undergrowth. Humphrey was reminded
of school camps. You slept in tents and park rangers with
spotlights told you about the animals that lived in the for-
est. He saw eyes shining in dark and guessed they were
possums. Then something far bigger attracted his atten-
tion.
It looked like a crouching figure but he couldn‟t be sure.
There were so many oddly shaped things casting strange
shadows in the moonlight. He crouched and the figure be-
came a rock. A step forward and it vanished altogether. An
expert on jungle warfare had once told him that two equally
matched platoons could expect to lose half their number in
an hour of fighting. Humphrey wasn‟t surprised. Anyone
fighting in these conditions stood as much chance of being
killed by their own side as by the enemy.
He glanced down the path and saw the figure again.
This time it was slinking away and looked very real. He‟d
warned his daughter about parks. Undesirable people hung
around them. He‟d told Elizabeth that she must under no
circumstances go into one after dark and wondered why
he‟d not taken his own advice. The police had almost certainly
lost interest in him - if they‟d ever been interested.
The sensible thing was to end the nature walk and head
back to the bright lights. He left the trees and entered an
area illuminated by lamps.
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