By J.S. O'Keefe
The grizzly is much bigger than any other I’ve seen in Denali. Worse yet, I left my scare-whistle in my car parked at the south entrance.
There are signs at the trailheads in Alaska that if you encounter a bear make yourself big. This grizzly is the size of an SUV; even if I appeared an inch taller than 5’10” and a few pounds heavier than 170 pounds it wouldn’t make an iota of difference. What if I reduce my size instead?
With autosuggestion, I am down to about half of my normal body. The grizzly however is still looking in my direction and lumbering closer. Seems, I have to pull off more reduction.
Success, I am down to squirrel length and weight. It’s working because the grizzly seems confused and is slowly walking back up the hill. The taiga here is not his favourite territory anyway; grizzlies prefer the tundra which covers most of Denali.
It’s time to grow back to my original body, but I am still shrinking. Trying to reverse it by mesmerising myself is no longer working.
And now I am down to a tiny creature like an amoeba. My mind is still functioning and I can tell I’m running out of body material, probably becoming a cell or a molecule, maybe only an atom.
The worst possible outcome is if I wind up an electron. That little sucker can do well when left alone but if it collides with a positron, both disappear in the form of gamma photons. They turn into pure energy, no longer part of the material world.
Coming to sudden wisdom, it is self-defeating when instead of standing up to menace, people lower their head and back down. Paraphrasing Bertolt Brecht, if you fight, you can lose, but if you don’t fight, you’ve already lost. And there is more to it. No matter the size and power of danger, always offer resistance. There may be no chance of winning, but during the short scuffle you’re at least going to be alive. You’ll have lived a few minutes longer. And as marathon runners like to say, that’s one of two good ways to die.
The alternative is that you’ll survive as an electron in a ceaseless fear of bumping into a rogue positron.
About the Author
John O’Keefe
J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer.
His short stories and poems have been published in Roi Faineant, Scribes*MICRO, Every Day Fiction, AntipodeanSF, 101 Words, Microfiction Monday, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 6S, WENSUM, Spillwords, Satire, etc.
You can find out more at his website: <https://www.szjohnny.net/>
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