The Deadly Mantis

One thing I look forward to during autumn is the return of the praying mantis. I always see a few this time of year and I can't help but stop and marvel at them every time one catches my eye. The first one I saw this year was in the vicinity of my garage door. I needed to open the side door to enter the garage but I could see that he/she was very near the doorjam so I had to be careful so I wouldn't hurt the creature. I slowly opened the door and somehow it hung onto the door itself and took a ride. It clambered inside the door and when shut I found I had a praying mantis stalking the inside of my garage. I was pressed for time so I'd deal with this later when I came back from work.
When that time came I found my predatorial friend right where I'd left him/her except that I could tell it had done some exploring. Time to transport the mantis back outside. I grabbed a thin piece of plywood and motivated it to get on. The mantis really didn't want to budge from it's perch on the cinder block walls of my garage but I persisted."Get on there you bastard" I muttered half laughing. Finally it was clear and I took it out to where I'd found it originally, in some tree branches near my garage door. I figured it could hunt to it's hearts content from that point on. I deposited him/her onto a branch and then walked around the small tree to get my things. It's head moved quickly to watch me as if I was prey or something easily digested. Yeah, you wish I was that small don't you? I'll bet this size was more what it had in mind.