Scorpion Season

It was 1 am. I was sitting in the rocking chair trying to talk myself out of insomnia when i saw movement on the floor to my left. Because the scorpions coloring often blends in with the pattern of the floor boards i have become extremely sensitive to movement in my peripheral vision. The moment i detected this movement i knew it was not a fly or a spider. It was a large object and advancing steadily. As i turned to investigate i realized that sure enough it was a scorpion; a big one. It was walking down the middle of the floor with its pinchers out and its tail curled high above its head. I dont know why but the scorpions never just walk around the house. They are always already in a fight stance, looking for trouble. So, of course, i had to kill it before it made it over to the dogs. However, i messed up and dropped the lawn mower battery charging station i was going to smash it with. As it hit the floor, the vibration and noise spooked the scorpion who abandoned its threatening stance and ran underneath my rocking chair. I had only one more chance before it scurried away to hide in the walls only to pop out of the drain or drop from the ceiling into the shower at a later date in time. I rocked the chair back and forth. I seemed to have caught a few of its legs underneath the rocking chair and as it struggled to free itself i exited the chair, repositioned it quickly overtop the scorpion and pressed my weight down on it as i rocked it over the scorpion, smushing it. It twitched for a bit and then it was still with one single pincher open and outstretched. Thus, the first scorpion in the house during 2021 was killed.

I just had a feeling that there was more than one. I knew there was another. The temperature had reached 100 degrees and it hadn’t rained. That meant they were looking for relief. The holes surrounding the plumbing beneath the sinks and the holes around the old a/c unit in the wall were the vulnerable areas where they seemed to be making entry. The pvc pipe plumbing needed fiddling with so often that i wasn’t willing to seal anything up beneath the sinks. I kept an eye out but i didn’t see any more movement. Then, as i was brushing my teeth in the bathroom a tiny scorpion with outstretched pinchers sprinted across the floor and underneath a box serving as a table with many things precariously balanced on top of it. Unwilling to move the box to chase it i decided to finish brushing my teeth in the rocking chair. While sitting in the rocking chair i felt something land on my head. I had my hair pinned up. My immediate thought was, “no, no way. No way that this happened. It could not…”. I reached up and sure enough, there was something moving and bumpy on my head. I made contact and then ripped my hand away. I wasn’t sure if it was still in my hair so i then ripped the clip out of my hair and feverishly combed my fingers through, unsure of whether i wanted to protect my hands or my head. As it turned out, it had flung to the ground when i ripped my hand away. It was also a little scorpion. Outnumbered and over it, i hurried the dogs to bed and climbed into the mosquito net tent around my bed. It was actually purchased to keep scorpions, rather than mosquitos, out of the bed. I feel this is God’s way of solving my insomnia.