My house recently was invaded by these annoying little black ants. Under the baseboard they came. Up the side of the kitchen cabinet. All over the granite countertop, dining room table, cat food, etc. My equally black cat was especially annoyed. He'd find a squadron of them marching along my wood floor and swat away.
My wife doesn't like to kill anything. It upsets her to pull a carrot from the ground. She'll catch wasps, roaches and anything else that has found its way into our house in cups and cans and release them outside. Problem is, you can't do that with an army of tiny black ants, each about a fifth the size of a grain of rice.
Enter, me. Husband. A k a Ant Killer!
Okay, so she made me use an organic ant spray, which I squirted along the baseboard. Problem solved.
Nope.
A few feet down the baseboard, here they came again. Sprayed there. Half a day of relief. More ants. Sprayed again. Again. Again. Finally sprayed all along the outside of the house. Finally, no more ants.
How many did I kill/murder/slaughter? How many did I send to a writhing, hideous death? Many hundreds, at least. I am the Ant Killer!
Tonight, I was sitting out on my back deck. And what did I see? Little black ants crawling on the wooden planks. My right index finger -- the spray finger -- began to twitch. But I held off. For now.
Instead, I sat and watched the hummingbirds feed. Luxuriated in the warm breeze on my face. Drank a cold Corona with a lime. Admired my black cat as he bathed himself.
But the ants ... I watched them too. I see them. Do you?
My finger twitches even now.
About Me
- Jim Melvin
- Clemson, SC, United States
- I was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla. I graduated from the University of South Florida (Tampa) in 1979 with a B.A. in Journalism. I now live in South Carolina near the Blue Ridge Mountains, a pleasant setting for writing, to say the least. I was an award-winning journalist at the St. Petersburg Times for twenty-five years and I currently work at the Charlotte Observer. I am married with five daughters.
The author
Jim Melvin, a veteran journalist, debuts as novelist.
3 comments:
Ha ha ha!
My husband is the bug killer in my house. He goes around spraying the windows, cracks, all over the place. I have nothing against killing insects, but he just does it so well.
Lately we've had BEES! Somehow they've found a way inside the house.
I'm a big fan of bees. Wouldn't mind them in the house. But the ants get into everything. Little buggers are sly as can be.
Tell me more about this organic ant killer. I've planted a little garden this year and the buggies are eating it something fierce. I don't want to you any insecticide or anything. Right now I'm circling the plants with old coffee grounds hoping that will work.
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