Aug 20 2008
Here There be Mosquitos
Years ago- another adventure ago- I spent months in Panama, in the jungle sanding and painting a dugout canoe (it’s a long story.) As long as I remained close to the v.o.c. cloud the paint spat out, the bugs left me alone. But one step back and there they were. Tiny Vampires. Flying evil. Misery.
I’m thinking about it now because the Captain’s hauled out in Ventura- a place with standing water and nutrient rich poo; they’ve got agriculture up there in Ventura and so they’ve got bugs. The Captain complains about his back aches and the clouds of toxic dust that swirl around but he gets downright close to whining when he mentions the mosquitos.
They find any exposed skin- they hum in his ear at night- taunting him- threatening him and up until recently they had made his morning constitutional and, therefore, the tone of his day a hurried experience to say the least.
How can a man properly sit and take care of business when he’s being preyed upon?
Last week he called, thrilled with himself. He’d gone to the local grocery store, bought a can of RAID, walked up to the restroom, opened the door, shoved the can inside, sprayed, closed the door and waited outside 5 or so minutes. When he finally went in he could enjoy his morning sit down without being food for the mosquitos.
There’ve been other victories in the boatyard- ones associated with the boat- but this one- this conquest over the flying evil of the restroom filled him with glee. It’s the sweet joy of having won a small but critical battle.