My family was looking for a house to rent in Indonesia. They made their decision in less than 5 minutes. They are not lazy. They stumbled across a truly amazing place on their first google search. When we rented it every single review was perfect, and this is an impressive feat because every 5 star increases the expectations of future guests. To this day, the house has exceeded the ever growing expectations of all of the reviewers. The drive was beautiful, given that the house was located on top of a hill facing the ocean, however the most memorable part of the drive was the children, many of whom looked no older than 12, zipping by on old mopeds. I later learned that wasn't an isolated incident when I was offered the keys to a moped as at the ripe age of 9 by staff at the villa. My mom kindly declined the staff’s offer, and this ludicrous offer triggered her protective, maternal spidey senses. She told me how to avoid 99.99% of all of the possible dangerous situations I could encounter during our stay. We were extremely tired after a long flight, so we decided to nap before exploring the property. When I woke up, I was greeted by Shuto, the owner’s pet monkey, he was fearless and approached me while I stood in awe.

Eventually, I got bored of staring  at Shuto, so I began to walk away. Shuto followed me to the pool, and he showed off his swimming skills. I decided not to join Shuto because not interacting with Shuto was included in my mother’s rant. After a dinner with my family, my brother and I decided to swim in the pool. We enjoyed using the stone slide and floating under it in a artificial cave. Unfortunately, loud, rumbling thunder echoed in the distance. My mom was justifiably exhausted and tired of looking after us. So, she told us to go to bed. I ostensibly obeyed her by going to a room. I tried to go to bed, but I gained a second wind after a power nap and a soda at dinner. At first, I paced around I looked at the different art pieces that adorned my room. I looked out window and remembered the crazy day I just experienced. I wanted to go outside to explore without the supervision of my parents.

Being a mischievous, misguided nine year old, I thought that my parents were party poopers. I decided to plan my escape. My room had one open entrance that connected to a gravel walkway, for my room didn't have air conditioning. I felt a mix of excitement and fear as I tiptoed down the entrance. My emotions intensified when I heard my father walking along the gravel path. I reacted by jumping into a bathtub that was out of view. The stone bathtub was very cold, so I instinctively moved my feet. The cold sensation abruptly ended when I felt a stinging pain in my foot. Initially, it felt like a wasp sting, but the stinging lasted for minutes instead of seconds. I turned on the light to see what I stepped on.

To my surprise, I saw a small scorpion trying to intimidate me by displaying his defensive mechanism. If I wore a Fitbit, I guarantee you that my highest heart rate and running speed would be recorded on that day. My feet took a beating that day. Right after being penetrated by a venomous scorpion stinger they were pounded against gravel, without the protection of socks or shoes, by a boy who thought he was running for his life. Preparing to tell my parents that I stepped on a scorpion was more painful than stepping on the scorpion’s stinger. They greeted me with looks of confusion. They talked to me with tears of fear rolling down their faces. Our conversation ended with tears of joy on all of the our faces. Thankfully, there aren't any scorpions with fatal venom on the Indonesian island of Bali.