Making It Up As I Go Along #430

(For those getting e-mails, pictures for this update are at my blog)
Bug Paparazzi

An evening out minding his own business.
The Praying Mantis has always been a star in the bug world.
A magnetism others just don’t have.
Beatles scurry, ants swarm, carpenters hide under rocks, and ear wigs are nothing short of evil.

The Praying Mantis has a sophistication others lack.
A calmness, taking his time, surveying the scene.
Thinking before acting.

On this night, he’s out for a stroll.
Perhaps he’ll come across a centipede, and dinner will be served.
I’ve never seen it, but I’m sure the Mantis has a napkin tucked away somewhere
Mantis’ don’t just chow down. Such brutishness is beneath them.

Crossing a stone walk, the Mantis sees movement.
With a sigh, he freezes... people.
Brutish, classless paparazzi.
They stop and lean in, flashing pictures.

The camera comes within inches.
Mantis raises a leg and leans back defensively.
Is it too much to ask for an evening without these leeches?
All he wants is to be left alone.

The people paparazzi move on.
Talking excitedly about their celebrity sighting.
Leaving Mantis alone.
With great globs of blue in front of his eyes, the after effects of camera flashes.

A centipede scampers by, unseen by flash blindness.
Mantis moves on.
Stumbling against rocks as he slowly regains sight.
And strolls into the hedges.

One of the paparazzi returns.
The photographer.
Returning with another to point and show the insect star.
But Mantis is gone. Sitting in the bushes, mere feet away.

Watching the vultures.
As he dabs the side of his mouth.
With a cloth napkin.
Taking a break from snacking on an earwig.

MONDAY...
— Fire in the building next to ours causes our power to go out. We’re doing work in the dim until supper time... then power comes back on. But systems are down so it’s a night of set-ups. Blah.

TUESDAY...
— Thai food for supper at work is great. Energizing even. Go to softball but it’s a default. Stick for an inning of play and the team that gets the win (not us) then decides that’s enough. So I head back to work about an hour sooner than expected.
— See a Praying Mantis tonight while walking around the complex at break. Cool stuff. It was just standing their on the walkway and when I bent down to take it’s picture, it turned it’s head to look at me with a “hey, what do you want” way about it.

WEDNESDAY...
— Typical day at work. Slept in until nearly 11:00 this morning so the work day came a bit too soon after bedtime ended.

THURSDAY...
— Thai again. Too good last time and had to have some more. And left overs will mean tomorrow as well. Thai goodness.

FRIDAY...
— Just Sarah and me today at AFIS work. Pretty quiet time... but nice.

SATURDAY...
— Quiet house day. A bit of laundry and some video game baseball with some movies mixed in.