In which disembodied hands skittered towards me
My long walk into town yesterday evening was improved in its latter stages by the addition of lots of disembodied hands skittering down the path.
In reality, they were large palmate leaves which had finally fallen off various local trees. But, in drying up (prematurely on the tree?), their "fingers" had each curled inwards into a more rounded and separated shape - rather than being flat, damp and squelched like the majority of autumn leaves. And the wind was catching them just enough to make them skitter down the pathways, "fingers" resisting and bending a bit and making suitable accompanying scratching noises, very much as if they were making their own way along. It wouldn't have worked if they were being fully lifted and tossed.
I may have been the only one to see things this way, of course. So anyone else around might have wondered why I kept laughing on my way to the venue.
In reality, they were large palmate leaves which had finally fallen off various local trees. But, in drying up (prematurely on the tree?), their "fingers" had each curled inwards into a more rounded and separated shape - rather than being flat, damp and squelched like the majority of autumn leaves. And the wind was catching them just enough to make them skitter down the pathways, "fingers" resisting and bending a bit and making suitable accompanying scratching noises, very much as if they were making their own way along. It wouldn't have worked if they were being fully lifted and tossed.
I may have been the only one to see things this way, of course. So anyone else around might have wondered why I kept laughing on my way to the venue.