A dim-witted beetle saw him coming and scurried out of the way, finding a safe hole in a Yucca plant; the scorpion chuckled to himself, thinking loftily, oh yes, you better run and hide from death itself. A rattlesnake off to the left noticed the brazen scorpion, but kept his rattle quiet, hoping the arachnid would move on without trouble; other creatures, even a young coyote, gave the venomous bully a wide margin.
The scorpion was bursting with pride and power now; every animal that walked, crawled or hopped was afraid of him, even man, that foolish being that walked barefoot in shorts, like that child he remembered stinging only weeks ago (which made his rep and created his feeling of great power).
The scorpion sees another human, coming towards him; ha, he too will suffer, maybe die, from my poisonous sting, but wait, this human is wearing heavy-soled boots, knee-length boots, and one of them has been raised up and is coming down fast and hard on--