Bunch of us were on our way back to church today after lunch when I spotted a dead rat in the drain. Stopped me in my tracks for a split second (not surprisingly) just to take a 2nd look, when I remembered that one of them was scared of the vermin and a wry "urm" escaped me. Which made her turn and look down at where I was looking at.

I knew she was scared of them. But what I didn't know was that it was of phobic proportions.

The next few seconds of uproar consisted of her 'fleeing' away as far as possible from the dead creature by stepping off the pavement and onto the road, and us trying to hustle what seemed like a block of concrete back on the pavement and march her towards the church building. The sight had distressed her so much that ending up on the road was all she could do before freezing in near hysteria.

Did I feel stupid? Absolutely. Very stupid, in fact.

I need to learn to be more sensitive. Sigh.

***

My first Gerbera jamesonii, otherwise commonly known as the African Daisy, or simply Gerbera.