Archive for August, 2010

At the end of Part 1, I was in my office centering my zen around the sight of the Organ Mountains purple majesty as I zeroed in on an intruding fly buzzing my office.  The fly was bouncing against the glass of a framed lithograph showing some horses.  I assume the horses drew the fly as they always do.  I think its all the hair…I could be wrong.

I pull myself together and re-focus on the fly.  My tiny visitor will feel my wrath this day! 

I ease within range working not to disturb the air currents which would alert my little friend to his danger.  The fan of death is cocked and ready.  The wrist snaps forward and back quickly into place as if there had been no movement at all.  Death in the afternoon.  

A smile returns to my face.  My tense muscles relax and I move quickly back into my chair to resume my work.  I quickly forget the intrusion the fly has made on my day.  My efforts to eleminate the distraction have been a success.   I feel good. 

My daily rounds of death dealing before we open at 11:00 AM are bearing fruit.  My kill ratio is down to three a day with the staff on notice that if I don’t kill anything before 11:00 AM, I get a little cranky, irritable, snappy,as they say.  Some might use other words but these will do fine. 

Fly season is drawing to a close as summer bids welcome to the fall.  I am proud of my accomplishments this summer.  Fewer customers are waving away pesky intruders at their tables and shooing some flys away as well.  Surely, as nights cool, the fly eggs go dormant waiting for the heat of next summer to awaken them for their short, voracious lives.  And, don’t call me Shirley….

Sometime in mid-September I will retire this season’s fan of death.  The ceremony is short but heartfelt as I commend my swatter to it’s inevitable doom.   And, so the circle of life goes.   Next year, I will be searching for a new swatter -new, better, different.   I will confront the minute pests each day and hope I live to swat another day.