FOREST FAIRIES OF LAOS
After dinnerwe walked back to our room
taking in the fresh mountain air
admiring the sounds of night crickets
When we reached the cabin door
we found
that we had left the outdoor light on
Hundreds of winged bugs
frantically flying fluttering
by the doorway
on the doorstep was a huge pile of wings
As we pushed open the door
I was telling him
about how terrible I felt
that we had left the light on
that we had caused
so many innocent bugs to go to their demise
When we stepped in
all we saw were
huge shadows of wings on walls
It looked like a circus of fairies had invaded the room—
we were immediately bombarded by
hundreds of flying creatures
as we tried to cover ourselves but
couldn’t escape
so we jumped under
the mosquito netting covering the bed
And that is when we discovered
I had left the bathroom light on
We were feeling trapped
so I made my way through the
rowdy drunken bug convention
ran up to get the manager
She came down
and all she said was
that we would have to wait
wait for them to leave
and that these kinds of bugs were
a delicious delicacy in Laos
So we sucked it up (not the bugs)
we crawled back in bed
pulled the sheets over our heads
We stayed under the mosquito netting
all night nervously
twitching and itching
He eventually started snoring
over and over and over
I kept mentally retracing my footsteps
trying to remember
if I was the one who left the lights on
or if it was light or dark out when we left for dinner
Then I had a spine-chilling realization…
we were sleeping in
the phi (ghost) inhabited Phou Pha Mah Forest
I laid wide-eyed for hours
anticipating the lights to suddenly click on
startled by every
creak and rustle
but somehow I fell asleep
In the morning
the sun came up
and the room was silent
it was like
nothing had ever happened
except for hundreds of wings
s c a t t e r e d
like dried leaves
all over the floor—
By KM Sharp