Bad Luck Comes In Threes

Halfway through my time at Bat Reach in Kuranda, QLD, I got pooped on by a turkey. I was cleaning out sugar glider cages, singing AFI songs to keep myself awake in the early morning. I am not a morning person. The cages were small, and provided no cover from a tree towering behind me. My first thoughts after feeling the warm splat across my shoulder was "Thank God it wasn't my hair!" I imagined eating the turkey for dinner as revenge, but then decided Australian bush turkey wouldn't likely be the Thankgiving feast I was picturing. I changed shirts and washed the splattered drops of goo off my body. Every time I cleaned the sugar glider cages after that day, I scared the turkeys away first. Erika, the other volunteer, joked that "bad bad luck comes in threes" after laughing at how angry my already grumpy morning face got. I really wasn't that angry. Only annoyed and sleepy.

That evening, several volunteers from around town came to help cut fruit for the flying foxes. I had been on a walk on the rainforest trails that afternoon, and arrived back to the house as the work began. Trying to pitch in quickly, I grabbed the largest bunch of bananas I saw to begin peeling them. Suddenly, I saw it- a spider. Not just a spider, but a HUGE spider, on the bananas in my hand, and it was coming straight for my hands, obviously going in for the kill! As any rational person would do, I threw the bananas. Only, I didn't just throw them. I tossed them across the room with all of my might, as far as my strength would take them. There was no aim, or really any thought to it- only instinct to not die. The bananas landed with a mushy and hard thud directly on top on Pam's feet as my terrified scream faded into humiliation. (Pam is the owner of Bat Reach) My face flushed tomato red as my eyes began watering from the fright of the moment and realization that I just hit an elderly woman with spider infested bananas. Everyone was confused as to what the ruckus was about, and why I would do such a thing from seeing a harmless spider. I futilely attempted explaining what had happen, but gave up and excused myself to regain composure.

The next morning, Erika reminded me once more that bad luck comes in threes. I hoped not. There are only so many times in your life when you can get away with throwing spider infested bananas at the elderly. I did my chores while keeping strict tabs on each wild turkey and checked every single banana throroughly before picking it up. As I went to take out the trash, I realized I was safe. I had completed everything with nothing bad happening. I placed the trash bag into a pile under the deck as it began to rain. But I was under the deck. There was no rain falling outside. I looked up to see urine flowing from the genitals of a little jack Russell terrier above me. My personal rain cloud was dog pee. I ran inside to take a long shower and informed Erika that she had been correct. My bad luck was officially over!

Awesome frog sitting on the fruit bins. Erika took this picture.