by Tracy A. Moore

Created on: August 16, 2010

James had hunted big game all his life. When he was a boy of twelve, his father took him out for his first Elk hunt. Since that time, there had been hunts for moose, mountain goats, and bears. Now he was going to do something that he had always dreamed of, a safari hunt in Africa.

His grandfather had passed away the year before and left a large amount of money to James. Ironically he had been saving money for several years for the trip, and he found himself with the money all at once from the one person in his family that was against hunting. He raised his coffee cup in a mock salute of thanks.

There were still bitter feelings about the fact that his grandfather had reduced him to being just a salaried worker after his father had been killed in an accident. Grandpa had thought James to be spoiled and wanted to teach him the value of working for money. He had begrudgingly worked as manager in one of their company's many plants for the last eight years.

After the plane landed, he found out that he had to hike several miles through the jungle to get to his camp. When he complained to the guide, it was pointed out to him that he would have known had he bothered to read the brochure. Grumbling all the way, James reached camp with his guide right at nightfall.

The next morning, the guide tried to instruct James on hunting precautions in this environment. He simply waved the man off telling him that he had been hunting for his entire life and didn't need to be told how to do it. After his arrogant outburst, he stomped off in the opposite direction to hunt alone. He walked a while and came out into a clearing to see an entire herd of antelope.

Trembling in anticipation, he propped himself against a tree to wait for the herd to come closer. All of a sudden, they began running toward him. James could see a leopard chasing them. As he raised his gun, he heard the rustling of leaves and looked up just in time to see another leopard coming down upon him. He wondered if warnings of leopards in trees were part of the instructions he had declined. “Too late now”, he whispered as the cat knocked him down.

Learn more about this author, Tracy A. Moore.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.