Silent Knight

摘要

The driver slams on the brakes. "Lion here somewhere," he says. I don't see anything but a scorched Ugandan landscape. A lucky few antelope find safety on high tussocks; the rest nervously graze on lower ground. Every living thing here knows there's alion. Not a single one has any idea where she is. Nothing moves but antelope ears, swiveling to read the landscape. Suddenly the ears lock into place, all facing the same direction. A minute later, as if on cue, all the antelope relax. "She's gone. Left as soon as they'd heard her." That was okay with me. I wasn't here to see a lion, but to be in a place where antelope had a chance of hearing one.