Rey's A Point

The Gathering Swarm

Not yet a month since the Battle of Dining Room and we have already seen hints that our insect enemy is planning something. Nothing definitive to present to the UN; but at least I can document my family’s concerns so that we can be remembered. I present the (some may add circumstantial) evidence but you judge for yourself.

Flies keep getting into our house; by itself, this means nothing. But these flies enter with the seeming sole intent of swooping by my son who is terrified of them (and bees–quiet MCF). At one point I launched myself at one of them with two flyswatters to the tune of my son’s supportive cheer: “Go, Go Daddy! Go Kill Daddy! Die it Daddy”

Rey

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10 responses to “The Gathering Swarm”

  1. Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? The birds are the advance fleet for the Insect Armada, like how the bugs in Starship Troopers(and possibly Ender’s Game if I remember correctly) would chuck asteroids at Earth.

    It’s only going to get worse….
    O_O

  2. Ok, here’s the thing. I know bugs are small and everything, but sometimes I still gotta ask, where do they come from? How do they get in!? It’s creepy…and crawly.

  3. I don’t have a clue. They’re huge. Some of them, I’ve witnessed, pushing their chitinous body through the mesh of the screen but others it’s nigh impossible. They have to have…other entrances…

  4. Pesticides are a temporary fix, and they don’t kill all the bugs. A more permanent solution is to bring in natural predators such as spiders and bats, each of which eat their weight in bugs every day.

    It’s important to seal up your house to prevent insect penetration, and also to seal up your food to prevent temptation. Remember, every exit is an entrance to somewhere else.

  5. I’m going to try offering that as a solution to my wife.

    “A real flying bat. Do you ever want to sleep in the same bed again?”

  6. It was a dark, moonlit night. Rey sat in his office, his face illuminated only by the glow of his computer monitor. He scrutinized a message from Curt, and realized the answer to the questions which plagued his very soul.

    “Insects are a cowardly and superstitious lot. I need something that will strike fear into their hearts. Of course! A bat! I shall procure a bat!”

    The night was calm save for a breeze scraping branches against his window panes. His entomological nemeses shivered, from more than the wind. THAT night, everything had changed…

  7. ok you’re the first and only person i’m, telling this to (which means definitely not my kids and DEFINITELY not my girlfriend), but last night, taking the garbage down to the basement in my building on 103rd and broadway, the building where i’ve lived now for three and a half years, there scurrying amidst the garbage cans, was a rat.

    a monster rat.

    one of the biggest i’ve ever seen, anywhere–well over a foot long, it seemed–and it was IN MY BUILDING. not in my home, true, or really even close to my actual living space … but three floors away is still WAAAAAAY too close for comfort.

    this sucker was huge. and greasy.

    i told the super (who lives down there!) and he’s “looking into it.”

    freaking me out.

    faith, not fear, i tell myself.

  8. That is nasty. We used to get 8″ rats in my church in Brooklyn. I would stamp my foot at them to get them to skat and they’d look at me with disdain. Disheartening, true, but to know that such beasts can (and do) grow over a foot (I remember seeing one running off on some errand in the subways) and is so very close to you means its definitely time to openly embrace fear. heh heh.

  9. You just had to trigger my bird phobia, didn’t you. I won’t tell you about “the incident” but let’s just say I will never ever watch The Birds, and I’m a total Hitchcock fan. I feel for you, Rey. It’s all I can do to squash spiders and swat the occasional fly (dd #1 is insect-phobic, won’t even touch a ladybug), though we have battled rats and mice which I’m surprised didn’t give me a panic disorder. I’d never survive the country…or the city, for that matter. I’m forever stuck in the burbs and that’s okay by me, but it’s nice to know I have friends I can visit in the country :)