Background: We have slugs here. And we did in the states. The principle difference here is that our local slugs here resemble the size and shape of a Ballpark hotdog, though I can't vouch for any similarities in taste. They slide up and down the walls outside our front doors, and sometimes get inside the Fader household. In fact, another couple here found one morning that their doctor white coats had gained some glistening streaks in the night, suggesting that the slug had been and gone.
The other night Rachel commented that she was bringing her shoes inside, since she had seen some giant slug outside the door and, as everyone here knows, shoes are vulnerable to invaders. Thus, the truism "In Africa, always check your shoes before putting them on."
I passively thought Rachel's move a wise one, but didn't take any action myself. However, 2 days later, when I was going to play racquetball with Jason, I went to fetch my tennis shoes. Though I thought myself a bit paranoid for it, I was thinking about the slugs, and thus glanced under the tongue of my shoes, and knocked it on the ground a bit, but nothing came out.
Well, apparently slugs can be a bit tenacious, because nevertheless, when I put my shoe on, there was a distinctly squishy sensation at the toe, which caused me to yelp, yank the shoe off, and hit it quite a bit harder on the ground, where this little fellow fell out.
Rather small by Kenyan slug standards, which is maybe fortunate, though I think the full-grown size would have been noted prior to the shoe donning, and not after. We shared a good laugh with the Faders, and a napkin used to wipe the stickyness from my sock and shoe, and we moved on.What did I learn?
1. Look inside your shoes a bit more thoroughly.
2. Anticipating your fears can sometimes alleviate those same fears. However, in some cases, like this one, it can make the whole experience a bit more nightmarish, which I'm pretty sure is the technique employ by suspense thrillers.
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