Tippy Toes

Today awakened a distasteful childhood memory when I pulled into the east parking lot at the University of Utah, opened my car door and stepped right onto a BIG, FAT WORM! It took nearly every muscle in my body to refrain from throwing up as I looked down to see the squirming insect half alive. I couldn't hold back the gagging and the air REEKED a fowl smell of the disgusting creatures. I stepped to the side to avoid a second worm and noticed they were everywhere, all within inches of each other. Then my reflex kicked in -- I was walking on my tippy toes the entire rest of the way (100 feet or more to the building) and I didn't care one bit who was watching.

Worms are the ONE thing I HATE about rainy days. Why on earth do these nasty insects wiggle themselves all the way out to the middle of a bare gravel or cement surface, just to get squashed (unwillingly, mind you) by people like myself? I don't see the logic in it. Does it not make more sense for these worms to stay in the grass or dirt or wherever they came from? If they're looking for food, I can assure them all the other insects know better than to roam a large stretch of public, man-made land on any given day, let alone a rainy one.

The experience brought me back to my elementary years when I walked to school with my older brother and sister. I dreaded having to walk to school on days when it was raining, NOT because my hair would get wet, NOT because my shoes would get ruined, but because the WORMS were out and the thought of squishing guts under my feet literally made me dry heave.

And that's when I learned to tippy toe -- one of my many timeless childhood intuitions.

You didn't ACTUALLY think I'd post a picture of real worms, did you?
Be careful out there.