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Random Happenstance

Posted August 28th, 2008 at 06:31 PM by NecroBlade
I just got home from campus after waiting about 20 minutes for the shuttle. While I was waiting - under cover, thankfully, for it's raining yet again - I read some more Republic Commando: True Colors. By chance I got up and walked out into the rain, then came back to stand against a brick pillar instead of sitting on the steps. All that isn't important, except it's how I ended up where I was for the rest of this story.

As I was leaning and reading, I moved my hands. I can't remember exactly why, probably just to get a different angle on my book, but when I did I felt brief contact with something. Lowering Star Wars, I looked around and saw a wasp on the ground only a few feet away.

First there was the "Oh crap, I could've been stung" reaction. But immediately I noticed something odd (other than the wasp I hadn't known was around): he had a broken wing. Either the sudden appearance of my hand in his flight path or his resulting impact on the ground did the damage.

Finishing the chapter I was one and nearly done with anyway, I closed the book and watched him, curious as to what a one-and-a-half-winged wasp would do. He crawled about, getting a sense of the area and avoiding the rain. As he did, he buzzed his wings snapping the limp portion back into place momentarily. He did this many a time, but inevitably it would fall, broken and useless.

He also attempted to fix it - I don't know how, exactly, but his little buggy brain had a plan - with his legs, but to no avail. After...how long? Minutes? Mere seconds? of this, he gave up. He didn't just stop tending his wing, though, he laid down on the cement and curled up.

It was then that I first seriously contemplated stomping on him. He had been only a foot from me the whole time, but even if he was in a condition to pose a threat I would rather let him fly off or seek shelter from the rain. However, his injury seemed to have led him to a conclusion: life could not go on for a flightless wasp. Should I come to the same?

As I debated internally, he stirred. He repeated his wing-flapping, leg-kicking ritual as before. After slightly less time, he once again ceased his efforts. And so I had to ask myself once more: should I step on him? In the end I did not.

It was my fault, intentional or not, that he could no longer fly. Perhaps I would have been doing the right thing to end his life, if it were a miserable life he was to have, but I would like to think, though I have no way of knowing and will most likely never see him again, that he's out there making a go of it, having just as good a bug-eating, campus-exploring time as the rest of his fully functional kind.

I'm rooting for you, little buddy.
Total Comments 2

Comments

Old
Heroscape Elffy's Avatar
Nice. Very nice. I personally would have ended it for the little guy. Hope he lives.
Posted August 28th, 2008 at 06:36 PM by Heroscape Elffy Heroscape Elffy is offline
Old
Einar's puppy's Avatar
Hmm, well, I'd have squashed him on site. I hate wasps. But , it's still interesting to watch life as it tries to repair it's self.
Posted August 28th, 2008 at 06:57 PM by Einar's puppy Einar's puppy is offline
 
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