Evadeen Brickwood - Singing Lizards

My skin was still itchy, but at least I could put on another pajama. Where was the insect spray? The bright yellow bottle of ‘Instant Death’ was on top of the fridge, where Tony also kept the spirals that were burned at night to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

I grabbed the spray and ran back into the room.

Although I hated anything to do with poison - this was an emergency. I pushed the bed away from the wall and sure enough, the ants came crawling through a hole just above the skirting board.

Tony’s sleepy face appeared in the door. The commotion had been enough to wake even a sound sleeper like him. Great, he could help me get rid of the ants!

“What you doing?” he asked and yawned broadly.

“Red ants!” I sounded hysterical. “In my bed, everywhere.”

I could still feel the burning bites of the little devils all over me.

Tony yawned. “Oh no, sorry ‘bout that. Spray’s on fridge.” He turned around and tottered back into his room to go back to sleep.

“Thanks,” I said as he closed his door. “For nothing.”

I copiously sprayed the skirting with ‘Instant Death’ and felt like dropping dead myself from the smell alone. I opened the window and moved into the guestroom.

Luckily, it had been only fire ants and not a large hunting spider or worse, a scorpion or snake. My standards of what was normal were shifting by the day.

During my near insect-free existence in Cambridge, I would have had a heart attack at the mere sight of a tiny spider on the bathroom wall.

I soon forgot about the ants and snakes and scorpions and fell asleep.

Only to wake up to another African morning with birdsong, the crowing of roosters and incessant donkey braying. This morning would turn into a scorching day, so I jumped out of bed to make the best of a few cool hours before midday.

Before long, Tony’s word processor droned away, printing out worksheet after worksheet. There were still piles of documents to go through and the first day of term drew closer by the minute.

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