A recurring dream in parts I had years before Jurassic Park hit the screens. I think it was inspired by a Scientific American story in Jim Bakker.

And "yes" I do have this much detail in my dreams. Gawd knows where I inherited that from. Just reformatting this again for my updated site has brought back vivid images of that dream (but not the emotion curiously enough) for me.

I was in a light plane. Jungle spread below me. Emerald green. Beautiful. The light was fading and the patches of dark and light formed a fantastic mottled effect on the jungle.

A cough and shudder from the engine causes the whole aircraft to shudder. The other people in the plane began to panic as it keeled over and began a rapid descent. I felt a wild fear and cried out.

The plane crashed through the foliage, it's wings ripped off. Tearing metal, shouts then silence. Suddenly a bright flash and an explosion. I feel weak and helpless and find I am hanging facedown towards the ground. I feel out of breath and realise I am still strapped into my seat with the belt cutting into me. I turn and look up and see that a portion of the plane is caught in a tree and the floor section with my seat is hanging precariously with it. The tail section is shattered and broken many feet below. To my left a burning mess of foliage and metal shows where the main part of the plane has crashed.

I am just about to release the belt when I realise that if I do I will plunge directly down to almost certain death. It is getting dark quickly. I manage to make the seat back fold back by tensing my body against the belt and straightening myself as much as I can. I then twist myself around so I am facing the seat and gently pull my torso around the seat before releasing the belt. My legs swing outwards and the sudden feel of weight almost makes me lose my grip. Pulling and slipping with sweaty hands I manage to get to the back of the seat and through a ripped and torn section of panelling. In this process I graze my arms, shoulders and hips.

I have to sit jammed against a forked branch through the night. Each time I start to drift a night sound such as a call, rustle or growl snaps me into fearfull wakefullness.

The morning sun rises on me and I can see nothing but leaves and branches around me. The area that was torn open by the planes passage simply reveals more trees but enough of a hole that I can see that I am about 30 feet up. I begin a slow and painfull descent. My grazes and bruises react to any touch and I cry out when I lose my footing and bang against a branch.

Eventually I reach the ground. Thick foliage is all around me, but I can see the slight wisp of smoke from the wreckage of the plane. I push my way through the plant and reach the scorched ground surrounding the mangled plane. As I start towards it, I trip over something and turn to look. It is a badly charred body with a look of horror burnt in place on it's face. I scramble backwards, whimpering and bang my head against the side of the plane. Three more bodies burnt beyond recognition and twisted in final agony. There is nothing to salvage.

I sit against a tree and realise I can't even tell which way is north with all the overhanging trees. I feel lost and scared. A low growl makes me freeze in panic. As I watch, a huge black cat emerges from the undegrowth and pads quickly to the wreckage. It stops suddenly and sniffs the air. It starts to turn towards me, and I suddenly feel adrenaline rush into my system and the urge to flee becomes almost frantic. A bird squawks and flaps quickly away in front of the cat and it leaps forward and swipes at the bird, but it escapes, fluttering and squawking up through the branches. The cat turns to the wreckage and sniffs at a body. It bats an arm with its paw. It reaches forward and cautiously takes a bite from the arm. My breath starts to return in small shudders. I slowly look sideways and see I am close to a incline. Moving very, very slowly, my eyes never leaving the cat as it chews on flesh, I edge my way around the tree towards the decline. As I round the tree I lean on a branch and it snaps. The cat swings in my direction and our eyes lock. It growls and wiggles its hunches before its leap. I scream and push backward and find myself sliding, chashing and banging my way down the incline. Branches and huge leaves scratch my face and arms as I try to protect myself. I try to curl up and suddenly I feel like I'm falling and open my eyes to see water rushing up towards me.

I hit the water in a ball. I struggle to the surface and see the cat looking down at me. A strange hiss and unearthly squeal echoes over the rush of the water. I splash around and see the cat twist and turn its head, tense and rush back up the incline in a mad panic. The water is getting rough, and I have to swim to stay afloat and try to reach the shore.

Sometime later I drag myself onto a small area of reeds and sand. Exhausted I pull off my jacket and lay in my T-shirt and jeans gasping for breath. I have lost my boots. Laying there with my eyes closed I hear a rustle. My heart seems to stop and I turn my head slowly towards it. A small birdlike face is pushed through the reeds inches from my face. With a squeek, the creature jumps forward and stops right next to my face. I panic and sit bolt upright, grabbing my jacket for protection. The creature is a velicorator. About a foot tall. A baby. I stare in shock. The creature hops forward again, totally unafraid. I undo the top pocket of my jacket and remove a sodden plastic wrapped sandwich. I carefully remove the plastic wrap and remove the ham filling and hand a piece to the raptor. It turns its head from side to side, looks at me and the ham and gingerly moves towards it. I find myself singing a soft song and encouraging the creature to take the ham. It moves forward suddenly, blindingly fast and nips the piece of ham from my fingers.

We sit there for a while with the creature getting more bold as it takes my offered bounty. I eat the sodden bread and cheese and hand pieces of ham to the creature. Eventually it becomes bold enough to jump and land on my thigh, wobbling as it catches its balance. I can examine it closely now. It is a mottled green with a bright red streak running back from under it's eyes down each side, almost to the tail it is using for balance. Smiling at the creature I carefully reach my hand out and tickle it under the chin. A loud crash and thud behind me makes me freeze. Something big is directly behind me. I am too scared to turn. My breath has begun shuddering again. I feel a presence close to my left ear and without moving my head I strain my eyes to look. A snout, bright mottled green, is right there. I feel a hot wisp of breath cross my face. It stinks. I reach very, very slowly down and take a small piece of ham and gently extend it to the small creature which has not moved from its perch, but is bobbing its head up and down excitedly and squeeking. As I slowly move the ham towards the small creature, I see the large mouth an inch from my left ear bare its teeth. They are big. Sharp. Tearing teeth. A low hiss starts. The piece of ham is close to the babies mouth now. It cocks its head to one side and looks behind me. The low hiss modulates and a growl starts. The baby turns suddenly to my hand and takes the ham.

I reach slowly back and take a larger piece. Moving very slowly I extend the meat to my left side. The snout moves forward so I can now see an eye. The cornea is blue like mine. I sit frozen in fear with what seems like a pitifully small piece of meat in front of this huge mouth. The nostrils flare and I see the eye turn to mine. I suddenly have an urge to smile, but remember that would bare my teeth which might be taken as aggression. I sit perfectly still, with my shaking hand out and realise that the parent could eat my whole arm with one bite. We stare at each other for a while, then the eye turns to the meat. The baby has begun bobbing again and squeeking. I risk a quick glance at it. When I turn back I see the large tongue of the parent delicately run along the ham. It curls around my finger and pulls my hand towards the mouth. I am almost hyperventilating now. We look into each others eyes as I feel the teeth graze along my hand.

Then the head moves back and the snout pushes at my hand towards the baby. I glance again at the baby, the meat and back at the huge eye. It pushes my hand again. I move my hand towards the baby and release the meat. The baby grips the meat and starts to chew at it.

I feel the breath sniff and huff around my head and neck. Something pulls at my hair and I feel my head move back. I close my eyes, waiting for the killing claw. I feel the sand shift and dare to open my eyes. The parent has moved around in front of me and puts its face close to mine. I can feel I may lose consciousness with hyperventilation. The parent seems to be studying me, sniffing at me and nudging me. I look directly into the eyes and reach my hand up. The parents eyes watch my hand as I move it slowly to the snout and touch the front. The skin is dry. I frown a little. It looked a little damp, but is completely dry with small bumps on it. I can feel my breath gradually returning to normal. I cock my head sideways and run my hand along the snout. The skin is soft. The read streak on this one is much bigger and seems perfectly smooth with a texture like satin.

The baby suddenly squeeks and we both turn suddenly to it. It bobs its head and turns back and forth between us. I look down at the remaining small piece of ham and back to the parent. It looks at me and bobs its head once. Feeling more confident now, I reach down pick up the last piece and hold it for the baby. It reachs forward, gulps the ham down and rubs its head against my hand. I tickle it under the chin and it starts a soft burring sound like a cat. Its eyes close. I turn to the parent who has turned its head to one side as if appraising the situation.

A loud growl and screech sounds. The baby scuttles off my thigh and runs between the legs of the parent, who has stood bolt upright and issues a low screech which modulates up and down chaotically.

With a loud crash two more velociraptors bound out of the undergrowth and land in front of me. They are slightly bigger than the one with me, and a much darker mottle green. Their streaks are almost scarlet. Their mouths are open showing razor sharp teeth. They stand with their tails extended back and their snouts towards me. One of them seems to narrow its dark blue eyes and moves towards me. I feel myself scream and scrabble backwards against the leg of what I now know is the mother. I grip the leg and wail in fear. The mother looks sharply down at me, then at the two males. I am screaming my lungs out in fear. The mother moves suddenly and whacks me on the side of the head with her snout. I sit stunned and quiet.

A screeching begins. The mother is screeching at the two males who are circling, bobbing and making single screeches and growls. One of them suddenly lunges out and grips my ankle. Almost before I can scream or feel the teeth bite deep I see that the mother has moved equally quickly and has her mouth around the males neck. The teeth just draw blood. The male has a look of shock and looks upwards. The mother growls. I feel the teeth release their grip slowly and the head move back carefully. When the pair are sufficiently distant from me, the mother disengages her mouth from the neck of the male and delivers a swift kick to the male which sends it sprawling. I fall backwards stunned as I had been holding onto the other leg. The mother jumps and lands with feet on either side of me and her baby and sweeps her head low to the ground back and forth screeching with the occasional growl.

The males seem puzzled. The slightly smaller of the two stands back, lifts its head up and issues a whooping call. It then, turns and runs off. The larger one that had attacked me does the same, but less enthusiastically and keeps its eyes on me the whole time. After the whoop, it stares directly at me, sniffs in what seems like disgust and makes a growl and runs off.

I sit between the legs as the mothers head sweeps down and looks at me and the baby. With its head upside down it looks even more strange. The baby has jumped onto my lap and is nudging at my hand. I scratch it under its chin and its legs fold up like a birds and it settles down between my thighs purring contentedly. The mother watches for a while, then gives a very small squeek. The babies eyes open and it jumps forward.

The mother moves forward and I am left sitting. It reaches the undergrowth and turns back and issues the squeek again. I realise its calling me, so I get to my feet, pick up my jacket and walk with along with it. The baby runs and jumps between my legs and the mothers squeeking excitedly. We reach a well trodden path and the mother moves along it. I follow as closely as I can. They move fast and I have to jog to keep up.

I am concentrating on keeping up so much I don't notice we have entered an open area. I stop and look around. I am surrounded by velociraptors. Dozens of them. Many of them are sitting on mounds of sticks, mud and stones. Others are running around. The stench assaults me and I almost gag. The sounds of screeching, growling and squeeks is almost deafening. The raptors on the nests directly around me all stop their noise and watch me. The mother bounds back, almost knocking me over as she places her feet alongside my body. She sweeps her head down and around in a wide arc and utters the chaotic screech. The other mothers screech in unison and then all sound stops. I am stared at by dozens of raptor eyes.

I stand, leaning closely against my new 'mother' and look around at them. My 'mother' then nudges me and walks off. I follow her past the others. Strangely I don't feel scared. Two baby raptors run out from between two nests and leap at me. I fall down under the sudden force. They are strong, even when they are so small. They stand on my tummy and look at me, bobbing their heads and twisting their heads from side to side.

I look up at my 'mother' and she issues a slightly different squawk and the two stand up, look at her and jump off me. Their back legs are powerfull and I am nearly punched out of breath. I stagger to my knees and try to recover my breath. When I open my eyes, one of them is an inch from my face. I reach forward and scratch it under its chin. Its eyes close and the purring sound begins.

My 'mother' gives me a small whack on the side of the head, makes two steps away from me and turns. The small squeek sounds. I now know that is my call to follow. I get up and do so.

All sizes of raptors are calling and running around. Some are eating what looks like animal meat off the bone. One looks up, its snout covered in blood and bits of flesh dangling from its mouth. It puts its head low and utters what I now know is the 'keep away' signal.

We reach an empty mound and the mother settles herself on it. I stand, not knowing what to do when the mother lunges out, grips my arm in her mouth and pulls me down next to her. I am sprawled on the mound next to her. When she releases my arm, I look at it. There are not even bruises, she was so careful. I am tired from fear and exhaustion and find myself drifting off against her large warm body. The baby has jumped up and settles in the crook of my arm. The mother turns her tail around us and lays her head close to us. I feel myself drift off.

I awake with a start at the cacophony of females whooping and screeching. Two large males gallop at full speed into the nesting area and run around the individual nests, snapping and jumping. They run around, raising dust and eventually stop next to a female across from us. Another male, laden with a large carcass moves into the nesting area and approaches the nest where the other two have started a complicated bobbing dance. The last male places the carcass in front of the female, stands upright and issues an incredibly loud whoop. I can see that the carcass is a large cat. Bigger than me, but no match for these hunters. The three stop the whooping and attack the carcass. They rip it to shreds and when the dismemberment is complete, they take huge chunks of meat and pass it to females around them. The central female is handed a large piece of torso and with what seems like great ceremony, the large male places the liver of the victim in front of her mound.

The females outside the immediate group around the central one have formed a large circle and have begun whooping and squeeking. They seem afraid to come to close. Another loud screech from the jungle and three more males come bounding into the nesting area. They too are carrying flesh. This time in large pieces. I cannot tell what it was. They go through the same dance as the first and again distribute meat to the surrounding females who had not received any during the first round. It is in this distribution that a male jumps over to my 'mother' and stops short when he sees me. Standing upright, he drops the meat and looks quizically at me, his head bobbing from side to side. My 'mother' again issues the 'stay away, under my protection' signal and the male picks up the meat and drops it at my 'mothers' nest. He then runs off.

My 'mother' reaches forward and delicately tears pieces off the bone and drops them at the babies feet. The baby folds its legs up and sits chewing the morsel. A large chunk lands in my lap, covering me with blood. I stare at the blood soaked flesh in my lap and up at my 'mother'. She tips her head to one side and issues another, softer squeek. I look down at the meat and realise how hungry I am. I have not eaten anything except a piece of sodden bread in two days. I pick up the meat in my hands, feeling the sticky blood ooze past my fingers and realise I will have to eat. I try. I almost gag. But I must eat. And I can't leave to find fruit. It is so hard to tear pieces off. My teeth are not like theirs. I can hardly chew it. But I do. It's just like eating rare steak cold. I have no idea what I've eaten. I finish about half of the chunk and hand the rest to baby who enthusiastically attacks it.

I have blood all over my face, my arms, my hands and my chest. I look up at the mother and a irresistable lethargy starts to creep over me. I lean against her side and feel myself start to drift. Then I feel a soft wetness against my face. I half open my eyes and realise she is licking me clean. I'm so tired, I just lay and let her.

I awake again and its dark. I'm cold. Where are my clothes? Mother must have gently torn them off me to get me completely clean. I find myself snuggling close into the gap between the warm mud nest wall and Mother. Baby snuffles and curls up against me.

I wake with a tummy ache. Baby and Mother have gone. My stomach seems twisted in knots. I get to my knees and look around. The sun is warm on me, but the spasms in my tummy intensify. I feel like I'm going to throw up. I let out a cry as a wave of pain strikes me. When I open my eyes I see Mother running full speed through the nests. She nudges me and squeeks. Another spasm grips me and I double over. I feel myself being lifted up and I see I am in her jaws. I feel a rush of air and a pounding, but the pain in my stomach overrides all else. I feel ground and lift my head. A small stream. A pile of faeces. And the smell. I throw up. Coughing and gaging I drag myself to the stream and splash my face in the clear water. Another spasm and I feel my bowels release. A low moan escapes and I throw up again. The water is stained with chunks of half digested flesh and my own faeces.

This continues for a while. Eventually I manage to gain the strength to kneel upright in the water. Other raptors are gathered along the edge of the stream up from me and are sipping water. They dip their heads in, lick the water, then raise their heads and begin again. Mother is sat on her haunches right behind me. I can feel her breath against my neck. I lean my head against her snout as my breath returns to normal. I look up and to my surprise I am under a small grove. The tree directly above me has avocados. Over there is a date palm. And over there is a tree with fruit I knew but can't remember the name.

I stagger over and take an avocado down. I tear the skin off and I am just about to wolf down the fruit, when mother squeeks. I turn to her. She cocks her head on one side. I smile without baring my teeth and tuck into the fruit. In a few minutes I have eaten two avocados, some other fruit and have taken a bunch of dates back to the nest where I sit and quietly eat. Baby hops around, but when I present some, baby just sniffs, snorts and continues hopping around.

I can't live on fruit. I will be using the latrine all day and get sick. I need fire. There is some meat left. I get up and wander about amongst the nests. I am getting using to the constant calls and squabbling. When a squabble occurs I beat a hasty retreat. They are too big and powerful for me to be within 20 feet. I am looking for flint. And brushwood. I find some and bring it back to the nest. Mother is watching warily.

I sit cross legged and make a small circle of stones. I then place the brushwood within it. I then chip and smack the flint together until a small flame appears. Mother has come over and is on her haunches next to me. When the flame catches, she screeches and hops backwards. The others do too. They stay about 10 feet away and the bobbing and calls continue as I get a thick stick, burn the end and make sharp end. I then skewer a piece of the meat and begin to cook it.

The smell raises the mothers calls to a cacophony. I continue cooking the meat. When I feel it is sufficiently cooked, I start to eat it. The calls stop. Silence as I eat and start another piece to be cooked. Then an incredibly loud whoop happens and males rush in front all directions pushing and jumping forward. They shoulder and snap and the females but stop when they see me sitting next to the small fire. I am chewing some meat and eating some dates, when the biggest male approaches.

He seems very cautious. Bobbing and weaving he circles me, but doesn't get close. We lock eyes. He narrows his and hisses. Deep. Low. Head almost on the ground, tail stretched out fully. Gradually he gains confidence and begins approaching, hissing intermittently. I take a large chunk I have over the fire, tear a piece off, chew it and extend the stick with the hot meat on it towards him.

The big male is wary. He stands fully upright, makes a loud whoop and lunges for the meat. When it is in his mouth, a look of shock appears as his eyes open wide and he opens his mouth wide and drops the chunk on the ground. Standing half upright, with his head pulled back he looks at the meat and opens and closes his mouth. It was hot. He didn't expect that. He swings suddenly to me goes low and hisses. I look at the dropped meat and poke it with the stick. A look of puzzlement seems to cross his face. I am beginning to understand. I am supposed to be scared and react. I don't. He doesn't understand. He looks at the meat again and sniffs and huffs at it. With a bite he gulps it down.

I take another cooked piece of meat and chew at it and look at him. He stands upright again and issues the loud whoop and runs off. The other males follow as he runs and bounds into the jungle.

I continue to sit and eat. When I am full, I get up, and pile sand on the fire to make it go out. I then walk to the stream and gulp down some water. When I return, the females have gathered around the now dead fire and are making strange squawking noises. As I approach, they part and I walk to Mothers nest. I climb in, settle down and sit. Mother swings her head from side to side and makes a crowing sound. The other feamles return to their nests and sit. The cacophony of screechs and calls begins again.

Mother looks at me a lot. Sometimes during the day, I go to the other females and scratch their chins. They all like that. And the babies follow me around and demand attention. The first time I had to cuff one of them for mis behaving, I was expecting the worst, but the mother squeeked and did nothing.

The big male always brings meat for us now. I get the strong sense that the central female has been usurped. He sometimes does not go on the hunt and sits and watches me as I do things. I have built a crude shelter out of leaves and sticks to keep the afternoon rain out.

A smaller male has started to follow me at a distance and always brings me meat. I cook it and share it with him. He never gets too close though. He sits on his haunches and watches me intently. When the hunt begins in the morning, he looks like he can't decide whether to stay or go. He always goes in the end though.

After so many days I have lost track of time. I sit and make a fire and Rex, as I have called the young male, brings sticks and brush. He sits flat on the ground and watches everything I do. I have no idea whether he understands, but I talk to him and the babies as if they do. Sometimes the big male has a mock fight with Rex and they tumble, hiss and roar at each other directly in front of me as I eat. Afterwards they both sit on opposite sides from me and wait. I have started to realise that they are competing for my attention. It has become a huge problem, but I have decided that if one day I hand cooked meat to one, and scratch the chin of the other then switch the next day, they seem satisfied.

Mother calls me each evening and I go into the nest and curl up next to her. But one day it changed. I had cooked a piece of meat and couldn't remember which one I had fed the meat to the previous day. I sat first looking at one, and then the other, totally in confusion. Eventually I chose Rex. I walked over, placed the meat in his mouth and patted his snout. The large male immediately stood up and issued the most horrifying roar I have ever heard. He jumped on the fire and stamped into out in a flurry of feet and dust. Snapping at everything, he raced off into the jungle. I was stunned. Oooops. I had mixed the order up.

While I stood stunned, Rex stood up to his full height and whooped. He then started to dance around me, bobbing his head and scratching at the dust. I turned to Mother. She placed her head slowly down on the edge of the nest and issued a low squeek. I turned back to Rex. His eyes seemed aflame. I began to see what I had done. I had accepted him. Above the big male. Ooops.

Rex rushed me. Just before impact he swung round and started to bob in a close circle round me, his eyes locked on mine. Then he stood straight and walked off. He stopped, turned to me and issued the 'come' signal. I turned to Mother. She closed her eyes and just squeeked. What had I done?

I followed Rex. There was an empty nest. He nudged me into it. Oh no. He thinks I am just some strange form of raptor. He wants me. I have chosen him as my mate. What on earth am I going to do. I started to feel scared.

He rushed off, running between the nests in a frenzy. I sat and watched the other females. They were making low squeeks and purring noises. Oh my god. Rex wants children. What am I going to do?

That night I lay in the nest and Rex kept nudging me and making little squeeks. He licked the back of my neck and made small bites that did not draw blood on my thighs and shoulders. He's twice my size. I lay back and looked at this huge creature that was staring at me making plaintive squeeks. He lay on his side and I saw he had the biggest erection I could possibly imagine. I curled up into a ball and began to cry. He nudged me with his snout and squeeked gently. I felt myself looking into his eyes and tears streamed down my face. His tongue licked my tears and a look of sadness seemed to show in his eyes. I shook my head and rolled over.

A wail that cut to my soul came from him. When it ceased, he nudged me gently and settled. I felt a wave of frustration and anguish wash over me as I realised the predicament I was in. His breath shuddered but he curled his tail around me and we slept. I know I must leave and return to the human world.

The next morning he was gone for the hunt. I sat and watched the sun rise. I now know where north is. I now know what I must do. I went to Mother. She sat in her nest quietly. Baby bounded around and jumped excitedly around. I placed my hand on her snout and she looked at me with what appeared to be soulful expression. I felt myself melt and embraced the huge head. Tears fell down onto her snout and I felt her shudder. I stroked her head and smiled sadly at her. She squeeked and nudged me. I turned away. I took a few steps and turned back. Baby was standing on her shoulders watching me. Mother had head flat on the ground looking at me. I put my hand on my face and felt a wave of grief shudder through me. The words; "Goodbye" seemed to hang in the air between us. I turned and walked back to what had become my nest. I gathered the flints, some brush and began to walk east. As I passed each nest, the females placed their heads on the edge of the nest and issued a low moaning sound. By the time I had reached the periphery of the nesting area, the sound had become a chorus.

The jungle surrounded me quickly. But I knew which way to go. I perservered up steep inclines, across streams and ravines. After two days I was exhausted, but still walking. I entered a clearing. As I walked through the grass, heard a whoop. Suddenly Rex was standing in front of me. He issued the 'come' signal. I hung my head and walked to him. I hugged his snout and scratched his chin. I stroked his head and said "This is crazy. You are so intelligent. You have a language. You have a social structure. You can understand complex concepts. You could have killed me and eaten me easily, but you didn't. I don't belong here. I have to go back to them." I looked into his eyes. His head cocked on one side, a quieter version of the 'come' signal came from him. I felt my heart break. My face screwed up in agony I fell to my knees and cried. I looked up at this magnificent hunter, beautiful, strong, massively powerful, yet still capable of caring and what could only be called love. I put my face in my hands and wailed.

I looked up and he had the most unuusal expression on his face that I had ever seen a raptor display. He faced upwards and issued a moan. When he looked at me, he cocked his head on one side and licked the side of my face. I bawled. When I opened my eyes, he had gone.

I sat for a long time. Then I got up and continued my journey.

As I was stumbling, naked down an incline I practically collapsed onto what must have been a logging road. Staring at the man made dirt road, I felt almost confused. A strange sound came from behind me. I whirled around and a truck was hissing and grinding to a halt.

A burly man jumped from the cabin and ran over to me. Before he got halfway, a bloodcurdling whoop stopped him in his tracks and the large male jumped between myself and the man. The large male dropped his head to the ground, hissed and gave off the 'under my protection signal.' The man was paralysed with fear. He stood, his face white, body twitching. I walked alongside the large male. He turned his head to me and bobbed one and squeeked. At almost blinding speed he lunged at the man. In the same instant I yelled "NO!"

The large male stopped inches away from disembowlling the man. He turned to me and whooped loudly. He then turned back to the man whose face was contorted with fear and was about to bite and I said "NO!" again. The large male swung to me again.

I walked over. When I was level with his snout I slapped it as hard as I could and yelled "NO!" as loud as I could at him. The large male stood up at his full height, towering over me and the prostrate man and growled so deeply I felt my bones vibrate. I smacked him across the ribs and yelled "NO!" again. His head moved down close to mine. His eyes narrowed. His teeth bared. I reached forward, stroked his snout and quietly mouthed the word "no." The large male swung back and forth from me to the man then nudged me, licked my face and was gone.

I stood there, exhausted from trepidation and turned to the protrate man. He had gone into shock. I reached down, slapped his face and shouted at him. His eyes seemed to focus and he screamed. I slapped him again. He looked up at me with fear and his breathing gently slowed.

"Get in the truck. I'm going home."