I Saved a Life Today!

I went to take a sip of water a little bit ago, and as I tipped my bottle back, a wavering black speck caught my eye.  There was a dead bug in my water; one of the little gnat-type things that sometimes come out of the pot of a little plant at my desk.

At first I had the standard ewww of almost drinking a bug, but then it turned to a sort'a pity.  Poor little guy, drowning in my water like that.  How long's he been there?  Been a bit since I drank any.  I went to the sink to empty and refill the bottle (i was still pretty thirsty), but as I went to poor it out, I thought that maybe, maybe he wasn't dead yet.  Maybe he just needed to be dried out a little bit, surface tension of water being what it is, maybe it's just overpowering his little body and he simply can't move.  

So, I sloowwly poor out the water bottle over my hands. His body drifts backwards in the overtow of the current; slight adjustment and he's coming forward again.  Drifts right to the lip, and I delicately catch'im on the tip of my finger.

I start gently blowin' air over his body, hoping to evaporate the water that's surrounding.  I can feel the coolness of the water as it dissappears from my finger.  Start looking around; I feel kinda silly realizing that I'm blowing on a dead bug in the middle of my office... So I take my empty water bottle back to my desk as I keep the air-current flowing over.

Seems pretty dry by now, and still nothing but the black speck, flat cellophane wings, and legs of scribbles on the tip of my finger.  Dang.  I really thought that would work.  I keep blowing, maybe there's still some moisture underneath that needs to be dealt with.  Nah, didn't work.  Ohwell, good try.  But what do I do now? Just...wipe him off?

Then I realize that I'm not really just a techy nerd-jock.  Logic and rationalization aren't the bonds they once were.  I have beliefs, I now have unexplained experiences and sensations of energy and life that are anything but a chain to bind me.  I start focusing.  I start feeling.  I start "movIng" without moveMent.  I look at the black spot on my finger, and I smile at it.  No, I smile in it. Through it.

What was once two-dimensional exercises the third.  A wing's now perpendicular to my finger.  A little black butt's stuck up in the air.  Did something happen?  I continue blowing gentle currents over it. C'mon...get up...  I wait a moment...nothing new.  I take a breath, I close my eyes, I gather my self.  I open, and curl my soul into another smile, with compassion.

In the blink of an eye, it's up!  What was once a motionless speck is now running around on my hand at top speeds.  Running, running, pencil-scribble legs now stiff and supporting, upside down, zipping here to there!  I can't believe it, I watch him run, turning my hand over and over as he goes, balancing him to make sure gravity's on his side and he doesn't fall off.  Are his wings broken? I try blowing some more, and he tacks into the current, wings folding in.  I stop blowing, and the foot-race is back on.  

It's been a bit of time now, and I really do have work to do.  Still no sign of flight yet, but I need the hands for typin'. I lead him to run off onto my monitor where he runs back and forth a couple of times. Then, like the past few moments hadn't happened at all, woop! He takes off, and flies away.  The excitement's over as whatever journey he's about to embark on begins.  He'll be dead tomorrow, but whatever.  Without my water bottle he wouldn't have almost drowned in the first place; without my plant he might never have lived.  Who knows, I'm sure it all works out some how.