Friday, August 6, 2010

How many flies could a fly-trap trap if a fly-trap could trap flies?

While at the home improvement store the other day, my six year old son, Coleman, spotted a Venus fly-trap for sale.  He had seen them on a cartoon and wanted to bring one home to feed crickets.  I told him he could get one if he saved his money.  We went back a couple of days later after he did some weeding in our yard to earn six dollars for the plant. 

Once we got the plant home from the store we set it on the kitchen counter.  He ran upstairs.  We have four pet lizards and a container full of crickets to feed them in my bedroom.  He returned to the kitchen holding the cricket carrier in his hand like a sacrificial lamb. 

He had a huge grin on his face as he chased the smallest cricket in the container around the clear plastic walls.  Once he got hold of the insect, he stuck it into one of the plants claws.  The prison gates of the plant clamped down over the insect as it squirmed to get free. 

My son yelled out, "COOL!" and reached back into the container for another cricket.  He repeated the process two more times before I escorted the crickets back to their spot next to the lizard cage.  The lizards live in the master bedroom with my wife and I.  I love the sound of crickets at night. 

My son followed me upstairs with his plant in hand.  He put it in his windowsill. 

A couple of days passed and I went in my bathroom to brush my teeth before bed.  Next to my sink was the covered Venus fly-trap.  I pulled off the cover and jumped when three full-size jumbo crickets left from their prison and lept for cover behind the cologne and face soap.  My son thought his plant was so ferocious it could take on bugs that were a third it's size. 

I rinsed off my toothbrush and spit in the sink, watching the three crickets make their way through the labyrinth of hair products on my wife's side of the faucet.  After a few minutes, I managed to wrangle up the crickets, who were promptly released in the lizard cage to live out their final days. 

My son came in my room in his guitar-hero underpants and a white wife-beater t-shirt and went straight to the plant.  He carefully lifted the lid to search for living crickets.

He turned to me with the pot in his hand, a smile exploded across his face.  He said, "Ah, Dad, yoo arent goin' to believe this!  My plant ate three GINORMOUS crickets.  It mus've been very hungry.  I'll get it some more." 

"No.  No more crickets.  I think your plant is full."

3 comments:

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  2. Good writing. You weren't trying so hard on this one and you seemed more relaxed. Sometimes you describe a noun with 2-3 too many adjectives. This story didn't have that. Good stuff.

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  3. I loved it! Your son sounds like a really cute kid. He must be a lot of fun to have around.

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