[The Devil’s Gift took this week off to concentrate on finalizing my book manuscript. I hope you enjoy this post from May 30, 2021. You may leave a comment whether you commented previously or not. Your comments make my day.]
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Just when COVID news had become tiresome, along came the cicadas. And just like that, cicada news became tiresome. I was satiated quickly. Enough!!
And then I met a Brood X cicada who spoke English. She agreed to an interview with The Devil’s Gift.
How are you?
Not bad, considering my days are numbered and every bird, mouse, squirrel, snake, dog, and cat in your yard wants to eat me—that, plus a horde of horny teenage males itching to copulate.
YIKES. Guess you’re on edge constantly.
Well, that’s pretty much the nature of nature—the “hungries” and the “hornies.” You take care of one, and then you take care of the other. Humans are lucky. You have a little time in between for a book or baseball. But for me, I’m pretty much screwed—dead in either case.
Life seems so meaningless.
Not so. Life, no matter how brief, is a miracle. It’s a privilege to be included in such an awesome world, even for just a few moments. It’s not that we deserve it. But we take it. Gratefully. Yes, life is short, we say. So live it to the hilt. Sing loud. It’s a big world.
I like your philosophy.
When you have 17 years to brood in a deep, dank, dark hole and then realize that your days of freedom are two score and ten at the most, it concentrates the mind. You learn what’s important fast. So yes: Be here now. Be somewhere else later. Is that so hard? Haven’t you figured that out for yourself?
Still working on it.
Well, blow up your TV, throw anyway the papers, and kill those damn lawnmowers that sound like mating calls on steroids. We horny ladies swarm to them like moths to a candle—and for what?
Good point.
Any more questions? I’m running out of time.
Yes, one more. How did you learn to speak English?
Brood X breeds only in American soil. We don’t breed in France, for instance. So it would be a lot harder to learn French.
That makes sense. But the fact that you speak any language at all is surprising.
Ever heard of Charles Darwin? Given enough time and mutations, anything’s possible. Apes can turn into humans, and humans can turn into jerks.
What do you mean by that?!
She didn’t answer. She’d flown off.
Her heart a-flutter.
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See Paula’s photo on the home page. Posted April 21, 2024.
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First the eclipse and now the cicadas. And for both where you are will determine your experience. I was working in DC in 1987 when a rather large brood of cicadas emerged. I can remember the bus driver swatting at them because they were coming in the windows that were open because it was warm. For me, the awakening of the Peepers signals the coming of spring and you can hear them on your walks through the woods or coming from the fields and any places that may be wet enough to support them. Love the seasonal transitions.
What fun! They are an interesting phenomenon. At least we aren’t in the area where there will be 2 sets at once. So they say.
Be here now. So easy to say and believe. So hard to do. Thanks to your cicada friend for the reminder. I believe cicadas are sent by creation for a bird jubilee –like every 50 years humans are called to forgive all debts. So all birds eat lots of protein easily without work. Great concept from the New Testament. We can start over. I know. And we can too practice Be Here Now. It’s easy here in the Alleghenys in springtime.
I will go with the “bird jubilee” mentioned by Stewart Acuff and the connect to the New Testament. It is a glass full for the birds, and humans who swing that way. An Atlantic article notes cicadas are an “easy-to-forage protein source.” Plus, even Aristotle is said to have eaten them, but I don’t think he left us a recipe.
I guess us humans have gotten used to things we never thought we would have to accept. But here we are with a full plate with another helping ready to be heaped on. God give us strength to be tolerant of election cycles and cicadas.
“Give us this day our daily bread” – thank you for this morning feast of perspective!! “Not bad, considering my days are numbered…Life, no matter how short, is a miracle…it concentrates the mind…” – indeed! 🙏🏼💓
I found out from a bio major, rather than a cicada, that copperheads really love Cicadas as a snack, so people should be careful around bushes and trees as the cicadas emerge.