Attacked by a Panther. When I was about thirteen I used to cycle about 20 kilometres across the English countryside from my home to school.The area was very remote and in the winter darkness would fall before I arrived back home. It was early December in England – winter time – . Before I left home one morning , an announcement came over the radio that was quite chilling.A Panther had escaped from a wildlife park and was roaming the countryside ripping up sheep.The radio announcer said that the Panther was not really dangerous for people , unless it was cornered , in which case it probably would pounce on you , rip you to shreds and eat you up !!So I cycled to school rather nervously although it was daylight. As I cycled I imagined the yellow blazing eyes of the black Panther and could almost feel the huge claws ripping into my back and the massive teeth sinking into my neck ! Oh my God !The ride to school was uneventful but at school everyone was talking about the terror of the Panther.The cycle ride home after school was in the dark as the sun had set. The roads across the wooded countryside were narrow and winding .up and down steep hills. I was terrified and every dark shadow seemed to be a hiding place for the Panther ready to pounce. I stopped several times with my skin prickling and hair felt like it was standing on end !So, by the time I arrived home I was pale and exhausted by the frightening trip. I used to keep my bike in the top shed , a shed at the top end of a long garden path. I wheeled the bike up the path and arrived in pitch dark at the shed. I could just see the outline of the open doorway and pushed the bike into the shed.That was when it happened ! As I leaned the bike against the side of the shed there was a bloodcurdling scream of rage from the Panther and I saw in a shaft of moonlight the blazing yellow eyes and sensed a crashing movement as the trapped Panther leapt towards me to attack me and rip me apart.Waw ! Yow! No! No! I leapt back , turned and started racing back down the garden path.. terror filled me and my heart was racing and pounding. As I tore down the path I heard the frenzied panting of the best, and I felt hot breath on the back of my neck.Then, horror of all horrors, across the front of my neck closed the long sharp claws of the beast. They wrapped across the front of my throat and pulled my head back , choking, I fell backwards onto the concrete path – I could not breathe and my head stuck the path – I knew I was to be ripped apart as I lost consciousness and my heart seemed to stop beating !When my mother heard my screams, she hurried out through the back door of our house to investigate. She found a strange scene. Our clothes line which stretched across the path and that was usually held up by a wooden pole was firmly wrapped round her son’s throat and he lay stunned on his back on the path. Black Tigger , a very large tomcat who lived next door but whom slept in our top shed at night was standing behind the boy – he was fluffed up and his yellow eyes were blazing in the moonlight. So it was , the Panther attack was in reality a combination of my vivid imagination and the startled cat being suddenly disturbed and frightened from his deep sleep in the dark shed ! Running in a panic down the path , I had run headlong into the lowered clothes line which caught me beneath the chin, snapping my head backwards and I had toppled onto the path !And so was the story of my Panther attack !