Nature is mysterious

I like nature, I like walking outside, I like the woods, I like animals. I can even tolerate bugs, as long as they don’t touch me. I do not like to touch them or their homes so I expect the same respect from them. I have a friend who does not see the world this way.
He jumps into ponds to hunt out snakes, turtles, toads, anything that moves and isn’t human. While waiting for class to start we would always sit on a bridge, not a big bridge mind you, but just a foot path over a stream. We would sit, dangling our feet waiting for the rest of the group before we walked to class together. He managed to see the head of a snake behind some bushes one afternoon and automatically started unlacing his sneakers to chaise after it.
“Is it poisonous?” I asked hoping to make him pause and consider the ramifications of his actions.
“Do you have your cell phone?” I failed to see the relevance of his question, but I answered anyways.
“Not on me.”
“Then I certainly hope not.”
Boys.
He never caught that snake, to fast for him, but he always found ways to make me nervous on that bridge. His favorite way was to pretend to fall. He would let himself fall backwards and then catch himself at the last moment, stopping my heart. When I told him I would stop watching if kept doing that to me he just started making gasping noises not even bothering to put himself in danger anymore.
“Why do you do this to me?” I asked once. His response was simple.
“I like messing with people, and you give better reactions than most.”
Sometimes human nature is as beautiful and mysterious as the moon. He reminded me more of walking headfirst into a spider web while walking the dog.
This one is 99.9% true.