While I did the dishes I was rooting for the praying mantis on the kitchen wall. A fly was walking right into her reach. It stopped to contemplate the world, without noticing the mantis with her claws frozen, ready to attack. “Go grab it!” I cheered. “It’s your dinner, and it looks delicious!” But the mantis sat still, without unraveling her long, spindly, strong front legs into a split-second killing grip. And the fly, finishing its meditation with a quiet “om shanti”, flew off into the night.

Perhaps she is lacking stereo vision, I thought, and inquired, “OK what just happened?” The mantis turned her head slowly and looked at me. Together we shared the regret of dinner gone amiss. Disappointment shone in her eyes, but did I also catch surprise?

Our mantis is not the sharpest tool in the shed, I am afraid.

(Shimoni, Kenya; September 2013)