I am sitting here in the dark save for the light from one small lamp and my computer screen. I am in bed with legs outstretched and my head propped up by pillows. The dogs are by my side, keeping Ray’s side of the bed occupied in his absence. He went back to LA for a few days for work and will return tomorrow. Rachael and her friend, Keara, are upstairs, settled in for the night. It is 11:42 pm and all is quiet, inside and out, except for the whir of the fan in the room with me. The windows are open and it is cool outside, but there is little breeze. Everything feels still, as if the darkness is holding it all in place. I just saw a mosquito fly past my computer screen. My clapping hands – my effort to end that insect’s short life – caused Sammie to raise her head, then let it drop back down on the soft comforter.
Mosquitoes are my bane at the point. A doggie door is needed here so we don’t have to keep the back door open. We are lucky the whole house isn’t filled with these little bloodsuckers. Still, all evening I’ve slapped away two or three and now my feet feel itchy and uncomfortable. This is one of my least favorite feelings – one I don’t miss living in CA where there are no mosquitoes. Chiggers are another one of those little critters that I don’t miss. Right now I have a chigger bite high up on my leg. I don’t feel too bad since it’s just one, but I am lucky. It could easily be like the time I got chigger bites on all my fingers. I thought I might go crazy with the itching and subsequent scratching. I can’t imagine how the soldiers in the Civil War survived all the chiggers and mosquitoes in the South. I think the truth is that many didn’t. Not that they died from these bites, but the misery could easily have contributed to an overall malaise. Not that I’m in that category, but I am just imagining navigating all the heavily wooded areas of most of the South. Those poor soldiers must have been eaten alive by any number of insects. And I suspect there was not an effective anti-itch medicine at the time…
I am going to wrap up this scintillating post. I am aware that I am not providing the most deeply thought-out writing of late, but I am, at least, honoring my 20 minutes of writing a day discipline. That surely is worth something…
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