Siphonaptera In The Shag

White flakes fall through the canopy of our fibrous trunked forest
Making a thin layer of white for us all to trudge through
Lightly dusting the woolly woven egg sacs attached to the trunks

Larry gathers some up in his barbed appendages
Flexes his spring loaded rear legs
And jumps impossibly high
Throwing the clump of white at me when at the apex of his arc

Almost in slow motion I watch it come towards me
Seeming to correct its trajectory as I try to maneuver slightly to avoid it
"Splot!"
The clump disintegrates into a choking cloud of white
So fine that I was coated in it

Involuntarily I breathed it in
Even as Larry ran over laughing his crazy high pitched laugh
The image of my friend falling apart as I looked at him
Until he was just one pixel point of who I knew

Screams all around me accompanied my fall to the ground
Crying out "Poison! Nobody touch this stuff, get away!"
But I couldn't care anymore
As all my nerves short circuited at once

Larry laughing
Screams
The taste of the powder
The feel of the ground upon my side
All merging into one fading static filled input to my brain

Such is the life of a Shag Carpet Flea