Every day when I take my morning walk, I pass through a bit of parkland. In the mornings the shade extends over the walkway and it’s covered with these little bugs. Many are paired as this exhibitionist couple, and there are so many lone males, brightly displaying, running about trying to find a lonely lady. I imagine it as some kind of tiny, chitinous Studio 54…
As always when I walk, I make careful steps to avoid injuring or ending one of these little lives, but at these times it seems more voyeuristic than usual. I often feel like Fafhrd upon once intruding on the Mouser while he was engaged in similar congress: “Pardon me, pray continue.”