Day 33: Befriending a Gnat

So I'm sure you already suspect this will be an interesting post. Well, the truth is the post started out not that interesting, then got more interesting, then sort of crossed the line. I really didn't ask for this.

Here it goes. First, as I was booting up my computer and thinking about what to write, and trying to stay focused since I only had 15 minutes till this day is officially over, a gnat flew by me and landed on my blanket. So my first reaction is to simply find something to squash it with. I looked around and couldn't find anything that I felt would be fit for the job. I looked back at the gnat. I could see his little creepy antennas moving, and I thought to myself, "Hmm I guess this is him taking a little break." A break from whatever "work" he does (which I just thought of - had I thought about gnats and that they generally are always either annoying you or laying around somewhere like lazy bugs, I probably wouldn't have become so sympathetic). 

All of a sudden, I get this feeling of the slightest and simplest respect for the miniature (and probably misunderstood) little life just hanging out beside me. And it hits me - I'll write about my new little "buddy." Occasionally I'll have this experience with other creatures, but the type of experience I'm experiencing is, to be clear, unique in that I find it in me to relate to a creature I normally dismiss and don't like. For example, when I was little I lived in a house where my room often had spiders. I've never liked spiders. One day I got my Mom to "take care of" a spider in my room. But she killed it. Normally my parents would catch the spider and take him away to be released outside. But I guess this time my Mom was just trying to get this over with soon. 

Well, this was the first time I can remember getting this feeling I'm talking about. When she killed the spider, I started thinking of who the spider really was - a mom looking for food for her kids back home? And soon enough I was balling because I just impacted life in a much bigger way than I intended (and really knew). From then on, I would get a cup and trap the spiders in there for my parents to "do away with them." I know, a little weird.

ANYway...this gnat. So I decide I'm going to write about him and I do a quick search for a photo of him online. I decided he could hang out with me as I write his story and then I would simply shew him away when I was ready to go to sleep. But then, the story got a little more interesting.

One of the first sites that popped up in the search results had these few lines of "preview" text: "(wikipedia) Gnat larvae are mostly free-living and some are aquatic. Many feed on plants, though some are carnivorous. Larval plant feeders (such as the Hessian fly larva) ..."

Um...I'm sorry, what?!?!  Carnivorous?? Whoa whoa whoa. I did not sign up for this. I had no idea there were such things as flesh-eating gnats. I looked around my room and realized there were no plants. That's when my buddy turned into a really uncool little guy. 

I looked at him as if to say, "How could you?" Then, I pondered my next move. Now should I squash you?

I decided that although offended, I couldn't blame him for being what he was. I'm sure it was nothing personal. So I grabbed a candle and trapped him inside it. 

Then I did what sort of made me a little embarrassed. I walked him out to the front door (while mumbling to myself how stupid this was - I was freeing a gnat). I opened the door, shook the candle and hoped he didn't quickly fly back into my house undetected. I mean, he is a gnat. 

I walked back to my bed and crawled in. Brought the computer back on my lap. 

Then the story got more interesting. Too interesting. I felt uncomfortably uneasy with the continuous developments that didn't play along with my expectations. 

A gnat flew by me and landed on my blanket. 

My instigating little buddy