Animal Instinct

Copyright © 6 November 2007 Patrick Khoo

Yammering noise.

The two young monkeys on his left were starting to annoy him.

They were just too close and kept pushing him sideways. He could feel his hair rising in anger. A quick lashing and a scratch was what he felt like doing. The female of the two was the loudest. The male was clearly courting the female through an overly elaborate mating ritual.

Pain.

It felt like getting kicked. He was getting kicked. His right leg throbbed. A slim female leg withdrew under his glare. She made some irritating jabber as if an apology of sorts could make up for it. He shifted his weight favoring his left and prepared to make a more forceful retort.

Scream. Loud scream.

The young female on his left laughed. Loudly. Her partner was stepping up his courtship, making her cry out even more. But that sort of attention grabbing stunt attracted other males. And predators. He turned away. Clearly too young and inexperienced.

Perhaps he should leave this spot. There was bound to be a less crowded space further to the right. But the herd rule was strength in numbers. And he was getting on in age.

He scratched his head. Lately, the itch bothering him had gotten worse. Another sign of his advancing years. When he was younger, he would not have hesitated to lunge at the kicking female on his right for her rude indiscretion.

He looked right. She was still looking at him. Older than the noise makers on the left, but still young enough. She started preening herself. Still looking at him.

Ah, but he was getting too old for this sort of thing. He made a small gurgling sound and looked down at his feet instead.

Low rumbling sound.

The herd turned in the direction of the sound in unison. It felt like the whole ground was shaking. He thought about making the first move. Being older and slower, he was always at risk of getting left behind in a mad scramble. If there was trouble.

Quiet.

Even the young mating couple on his left was silenced.

The sound was moving unnaturally fast. In another second it would be almost on top of them.

Stampede?

He could feel the tension rising up from deep inside. A sense of panic started to grip him, but his legs were firmly rooted to the ground. He sensed the female on his right getting closer. Much closer. What was she thinking? He wasn’t going to protect her. He was wondering how he could protect himself, let alone another.

Screeching sound. Fast.

It wasn't a stampede. Worse.

The herd started to move. Too late.

Push. Run. Walk. Crawl.

He risked a quick glance around. Crazed eyes looked back.

Scream. That was what he wanted to do. What his instinct told him. What he could do.

No!

The train came to a stop smoothly, amidst the early weekday morning rush hour crowd.

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