STORY: THE THREAT

THE THREAT
Someeta Das

I was waiting .Uncovered in the waste bin I was waiting stealthily for the right moment when I would strike. It had been for now quite some time since I had arrived from outside the country on a napkin, which an unsuspecting traveler had carelessly flung into an uncovered dustbin, after using. I had managed to grip the hand of my host leaving a portion of myself inside the dustbin, to claim my next victim.
I had been lying there for a couple of hours, waiting diligently, all the while glancing menacingly around. While waiting and watching I made a few remarkable observations. There was a man who carelessly passed the bin, brushing it with the tip of his little finger. It gave me a chance to grip his finger immediately, and disseminate a small portion of myself. This extraordinary feature made me more potent and gave me powers, which at times was frightening even to me. I watched the nice young lady, reminding the child not to touch surfaces, but unaware that the child had already touched the bin accidentally. I hated having to lay siege and grasp the little one, but such was my innate nature that I was forced to do so.
Likewise, the gangling teenager, with his strange haircut and awkward ways, who looked as if he did not have a bath for quite a while, and that made him an easy target. This was primarily because I loved dirt and filth. In fact I thrived on it. But wait…… surely that old lady who could barely walk straight, but was too proud to be seen on a wheelchair, did not deserve to be subjected to the nature of my intimacies? It was inevitable and I gripped her, merely a result of my primal instinct that had to be honored. She was walking unsteadily ,when suddenly she stumbled and held on to the dustbin to steady herself, otherwise she would have fallen, and I grabbed her, more for her own sake than mine.
Now of all the people I had clung to, let me start relating my adventures with the young man who had carried me unsuspectingly on his napkin. I would have been destroyed had he not touched the surface I had been clinging on to, and had he washed his hands, I would have died an untimely death. As a matter of fact I did so want him to wash his hands before eating on the aircraft. But he merely swept me from the surface, on to the napkin, as I divided myself and left a portion into his hands and dived into the napkin. He ate with great gusto and relish, carrying me into his mouth, gulping me down without chewing, as if he was in a tearing hurry,
So beginning my journey with the young man, I will relate three experiences of the people I had gripped, one after the other. I had settled quietly in my host’s gullet, which made him slightly uncomfortable at first, as if something was lodged in his throat. I waited for a couple of days before I struck. The painless feeling that he was experiencing, slowly developed into a lump as I found new pathways to enter his body. Initially I was shocked; I felt that I was invading his privacy. But what made me angry was his casual attitude. I wanted attention, but he would not go to the dispensary and find out what was wrong, and this made me very angry. His arrogance made me more determined to take revenge for my tag of being ‘deadly’ had become questionable and my reputation was at stake.
Within a few days he had to take notice, as he started feeling breathless and was running a high temperature. It was then he decided to consult a specialist, but it was far too late. I had created a thousand monsters like myself, and the medicines he took could hardly destroy us. We had become too powerful. Slowly but surely we overpowered him, and finally when everything was over we sought our next victim.
It was sheer carelessness on his part that we managed to win. This battle was in fact so easy to lose. All it required was washing me off with soap and water- cleaning between the fingers, scrubbing me off- so simple, that at times it felt absurd that we could be reduced impotent so quickly and effectively. But the human race is an impatient and arrogant lot, I thought, and we had learnt the virtue of patience.
My next journey was with the sweet and seemingly harmless old lady. Her gait was a little awkward due to her age. She tried to carry herself proudly, but being elderly, it was difficult, for her feet refused to obey her and therefore she walked a trifle unsteadily. I clung to her fingers for dear life, as her hands went back and forth trying to remain steady. I waited desperately for her to touch her face, to find an opening in her mouth, eyes, ears, anywhere where I could gain entrance with my tentacles, so I hung on waiting patiently.
On reaching the Airport exit, she went out of the gate, her eyes scanning somewhat desperately. Soon spying a young man, who was rushing towards her, she seemed to relax visibly. She restrained his advance with a gesture of her hand, and said in a sweet voice, ‘It was good of you to come and meet me, but please do not come too close’, she pleaded.
‘But Mother…..’, he started. Immediately she warded him off saying, ‘Please do honor an old lady’.
She climbed into the waiting car with a little difficulty, seated herself gingerly, careful not to touch anything, smiling all the while pulled out a pair of gloves, which she had taken off at the immigration, and put them on. My hope of climbing on to her was dashed, as I found myself being covered completely.
The car started moving, inching its way into the evening traffic. The lady meanwhile was speaking animatedly to the young man, her gloved hand holding me prisoner. After a good quarter of an hour we reached our destination, and I waited patiently for her to release me and allow me to function. But where was she heading? A young woman with a small child in tow, had come to greet her, but all she said was ‘Excuse me for a moment please’, and headed off to what sounded like a knell to me- the bathroom. She carefully removed her clothes and finally her gloves- and just when I heaved a sigh of relief Ahh…..I was smeared with a solution and ruthlessly scrubbed, back and forth her fingers intertwining, dislodging me completely, and a jet of water took me off screaming, powerless and helpless, to enter the waste pipe, to drown and die. My last thought was that I had underestimated the powers of the elderly lady who had seemed apparently so harmless and helpless, but was so methodical and ruthless.
My last victim, was the young child whose Mother had reprimanded for touching the dustbin, and who had carried me along with her, in her hands. Her name was Sheila-laughing and chattering she skipped her way onto the waiting car. Seated, impatiently removing her mask, she scratched her nose depositing me there. Immediately I seized the chance, gripping her firmly with my tentacles, even as she tried to rub me out. In a few moments I had entered her body through her nostrils while trying to make my way into her windpipe. My initial plan of lying low for a few days was abandoned, for I was wanted to get going, which proved to me my undoing later. Soon Sheila had started sneezing, as the itching sensation I had caused, did not disappear.
Her Mother noticing her discomfort asked her in a concerned voice ‘Are you feeling all right? It seems that you have caught a cold’. On reaching home, her Mother quickly made the little girl a hot bath, changing her clothes, all the while careful not to get too close, and keeping her own mask and gloves firmly in place. Sheila was then put to bed carefully and soothed while her Mother called for the Doctor. By this time I had already intruded, going deep inside I had started to multiply. It was then I heard a foreign sound, I darted out and saw two white coated gentlemen seated nearby, and what looked like a stethoscope, being placed on Sheila; one of the men seemed to be asking her gently where she was hurting. My instincts looked for a way to attach myself to the stethoscope, but it was snatched away before I could do so. The next day the men were back, and this time I felt that I was being lifted and carried out. Once again, I tried to look for a way to attach myself to the person who was carrying me, but to my utter dismay I found both men had protective gears on them, with their faces covered. Sheila was carried into the waiting car and in a short while, I was greeted with a strange smell which created a panic like sensation in me. This was a hospital, I realized, for now I was mortally afraid of my existence, as I knew that in clean, sanitized conditions I would soon cease to exist. Now, Sheila was being placed on the bed, and peeping out, I saw another couple of men had joined the two gentlemen who had brought in Sheila, with protective gears in place, bending over her. Her Mother was weeping copiously, while one of the men had put his arm around her, and was trying to reassure her. I was certain now that I would get very little time to complete what I had begun, therefore started working in earnest.
It must have been the following day- for I had lost the sense of time, when the companions I had created along with me, received the first onslaught. Suddenly a white substance rushed towards us carrying a few thousand of my companions along with the tide, rushing with them at what looked like another opening. It was followed by yet another and then continued in waves which kept coming for quite a while. Realizing the paucity of time, along with my companions I started attacking afresh with renewed zest and vigor. To our horror, our war had made Sheila restless and supine, but fresh attacks on us continued and soon rivulets after rivulets stronger than before kept coming and soon we knew we were fighting a losing battle. My last thought before oblivion was that my being was relegated inconsequential and unsubstantial.
In retrospect, I feel, that we were in a state of delusion, thinking that the human race could be so easily overpowered, and that we were invincible, totally forgetting about the resilience and indomitable human spirit. Attacks in various forms have come and will come over the years, but for the race of men with their powerful minds, coordination and unity, what cannot they achieve? It was foolish to even think that the race could be extinguished like the dinosaurs. They would soon use their power and might to develop an antidote against us enabling them to stay safe and relinquishing all future advances made by the likes of us.
“As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods; they kill us for their sport” I had thought that we could wipe them out like flies, which was foolish. True, we could get the better of them for a while, but they were indefatigable as a race. We had claimed ourselves as being ubiquitous and how wrong had we been.