Read Between the Lines

A spin on a well-known idiom!

Read Between the Lines

‘Reported demise of a lone visitor within the Chobe Wild Life Reserve. Early last evening, two rangers patrolling the reserve, came upon an abandoned vehicle. Alarmed as to the whereabouts and safety of the person or persons belonging to the vehicle, the rangers began their search. As daylight turned to dusk, they located a person, or more accurately, the remains of a person.
In the words of one of the rangers: We followed footprints along the central track leading back to the entrance of the park. Partway along, the footprints veered to the left along an animal path. Two old lions, fondly referred to as Grouchy and Grumpy by us rangers, patrol the territory either side of the track, Grouchy to the left and Grumpy to the right. They, the lions, meet daily at the divide of the path and roar insults at each other before sauntering back to their separate territories. Quite harmless, really.
The second ranger continues the story: First we found the boots bearing a few teeth marks, then a scrap of red bush-shirt material dangling on a thorn bush. Marty noticed the black-rimmed, thick-lensed glasses at the side of the path. With his back turned to me, he bent to pick them up. He jumped and kinda squealed. As he turned, I noticed his ghostly white face. His hand shaking, he handed me a set of dentures, upper case, I think. Scraps of paper, fluttering in the breeze puzzled us both, but piecing a few bits together, we recognised their origins. They were remnants of the map given to visitors on entering the reserve.
Marty concludes the story: Yep, that chap whoever he was, had obviously been caught reading between the lions.’