Beware the deadly flesh-eating sand flea!

So now that I'm safely ensconced back in the good old U.S. of A., I can share with you a disturbing rumor being gleefully spread by certain flight attendants who apparently crave more danger and excitement than life presently affords - that some of us have been attacked by flesh-eating sand fleas while sunbathing in Kuwait (the very activity, I might add, that I just spent the last week enjoying).

Apparently at least three of us have been mercilessly struck down by this sudden scourge. One poor soul, (and I swear to all that is holy that I am not the one making this up) has had the tip of his, um, manhood, er, ravaged and now must get his member circumcised (apparently for the first time). Again, not making this up. But I can't promise that it's not fiction. Another victim has had her entire body mottled by the pests, again according to the grapevine.

Alarming, isn't it? Or is it merely a cunning scheme to obtain workman's compensation for more mundane ailments? My guess is, for at least the first case, illicit sex leading to some really nasty case of V.D., coupled with a very imaginative cover story.

Things get so distorted; who can really say? But I have to admit, the speculations are endlessly amusing.