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Competition
Jabber, the leader of the European Wasps, cruises over his domain of human waste in a backyard. It contains remnants of rotting food and vegetation, cardboard packaging and animal faeces, pulsating in a pit of flying insects and a few crawling ones. The wasp and his comrades are twice the size of blowies. Flies and other insects avoid them. Jabber buzzes at a worm wriggling along a furrow in the soil. ‘Move it slug! You’re not welcome here.’
The worm continues its laborious journey—slow and endless. Jabber snaps his wings and descends at great speed, targeting his victim. With his stinger in position, Jabber thrusts it into the worm’s pale, soft-segmented body, before flying off. The worm shudders from its head to its tail and soon is motionless.
The ‘Others’
Eight-year-old Tommy had been crouching in the backyard, inspecting leaves and flowers of low-growing bushes. Attached to a lanyard around his neck dangles a magnifying glass. He has tried to capture bees and even a moth with a glass and a piece of thick paper, but as he approaches, they fly away. Sighing, Tommy retreats to the deck. On the bannister he spies a blowfly sunning itself. Suddenly, a glass encases Buzz, and paper slides underneath. The glass is turned upright and the paper folded around the edges, fastened with a rubber band. A couple of air holes are inserted with a pin. Realising he is trapped, Buzz frantically hits and bounces off the walls. With sticky footpads he climbs up the glass wall, but can’t escape. Descending, he rests at the base. All this time, the enormous eyes of the small human are studying him. The multiple lens of Buzz’s eyes cloud over.
