A Midnight Stare

A tiny nocturnal gecko suddenly darted out from behind the rusty overflow conduit, halting dead in its tracks three inches from my boots. An audacious challenger daring to hold eye contact with an elite. I dropped into a disciplined crouch, locked my elbows against my knees, and leveled an unblinking, ferocious glare straight into its black bead eyes. For two grueling minutes, neither of us shifted a single millimeter. Finally, the reptile recognized the impossible gap in our power levels, flicked its tail in submission, and scampered into the shadow beneath the tank. Total psychological dominance.