Breath to breath with the panther

It was near dark as I walked the slightly curved asphalt road , the locals called this stretch of paved rural road as Holden Road. Some call this stretch of roadway Red Holden Road. It has since been renamed. I am not sure of the current name. Time and change has moved on at an Indy 500 pace since then. I was young back then. I was thirteen or possibly. Fourteen. Anyway I was returning home from a frequent walk to nowhere with no specific purpose. My mind drifted from the reality which I'd pay any price to escape and the elusiveness of all the places I'd rather be and the things I'd rather be doing. And I could be doing all those things if I could escape this current reality.

The first warning sound I recalled hearing was a high pitched scream. At first I thought the scream was that of a woman. My mind wasn't registering the danger, only the need for a heightened awareness. Instinctively I hastened my pace. Thoughts strolled through my mind. Was the sound that of a family member in trouble? If so, what could I do? What should I do ? Was this scream the sound of a neighbor in immediate danger ? Then the thought entered my mind with the impact and weight of a pea." The princess and the pea" the whispers of a decade of warnings flooded my thoughts. My grandfather had frequently warned me. " Don't be out after dark. There was still light, I wasn't out after dark." And "should you hear the scream of a woman after dark do not respond, it is the wailing of a panther" I pondered his wisdom. Would this black panther kill me? I wondered but I wasn't ready to find out.

Suddenly a second lower scream broke the silence. I looked up in time to see the panther standing in the middle of Red Holden road. That cat was blocking my path. A. voice of warning crept up from my stomach." Freeze ! Do not move." Do not breathe. If you're perfectly still the cat will know that you're not a threat and she will slowly pass by you.

I froze dead where I stood. Telepathically my mind was communicating with the panther. In my thoughts I retold the story my grandfather had told so many times. The cat was a mother prowling searching for her children. Someone in the past stole her cubs and sold them. I tried to communicate to the cat that I wasn't the human who wronged her.

As grandfather had said the Panther snarled a very low growl and walked off. She had come so close I had felt the moistness of her breath. I was left with another memory, another story nobody would believe.