You know, I never get sick...

...I think it's because there was this huge bucket behind my house when I was a kid and it would collect rain water and after a while these big old amoeba's starting to live in there.

My mom told me to never eat those amoeba's. I wondered why she would even tell me that.

I had no intention of ever eating any of those big amoeba's.

A few day's later I was outside wondering around playing and sure enough I found myself behind the house staring into the bucket. I stared for quite some time, eying a big fat one. His little hairs wiggling him through the water. Finally, I reached in and squeezed the big fella, pulled him out of the bucket and looked at him for a moment.

"Why shouldnt I eat you?" I thought, "You looks OK..."

and with that I popped him in my mouth and swallowed.

No big deal, right?

Boy was I wrong.

A few hours later i was sick. Super sick.

How could something that looked so friendly be so bad. I had a lot to learn, I guess. I should have listened to my mommy. I didn't tell her that I had eaten from the amoeba bucket. She just thought that I had the flu.

Several days later I was all better.

A few more after that found me behind the house standing over the bucket.

Again.

Staring at the big old amoeba's slowly swimming in the murky water.

Again.

There was something mesmerizing about them. Before long I had eaten another one. I stood for a brief moment contemplating my own intelligence, but a pretty butterfly fluttered by and I chased it around a bit, giggling, before the sickness hit me.

Again.

Not quite as bad this time, but still pretty bad. The pattern just kept repeating. A week later I was better and back at the bucket in no time. I kept eating the plump little amoeba's and getting sick, eating the amoeba's and getting sick. But each time I was less and less sick, and after a while, I wasn't sick at all.

After a few months of this and a brief dry spell they were all gone.

Fall came, then the winter snow and the old bucket would fill with the fluffy powder. I would make shivering trips behind the house for the chance at maybe spotting a rare and timid snow amoeba, but to no avail.

Early the next spring my dad put the bucket into his shed to store it away, and with it went the chance to enjoy the big ol' amoeba's again that summer.

I have never forgotten my summer with the amoeba's, i remember them fondly and still can't pass a rain filled container or bin without taking a hopeful peek inside. They left me with great memories and, apparently a hefty immune system.

I've never been sick again.

-Nate