Incident

Yesterday, after an incredibly busy week, I finally found a little time to spend in the hammock. I hiked out into the woods with a drink and a copy of Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, which J. had lent me at work Saturday night.

I read for a while and really began to enjoy the book. But the sun found its way through the boughs, and the heat made me drowsy...

Suddenly I was startled awake by a loud buzzing around my head. It was a wasp, or maybe a yellowjacket. I tried to duck it, but it circled my head, trying to land. I threw the book down and attempted to make a quick, decisive leap from the hammock. That was when the button on the left back pocket of my shorts caught in the hammock's weave.

I almost did one of those cartoon "flapjack" maneuvers, where the hammock spins you around and spits you out in a bellyflop on the ground. But at the last minute, as my legs flew out from under me, there was a loud POP sound and I was launched outward into a pile of pine needles.

I still can't find that button.