ON A MISSION

My husband Steven and I were sitting on the back deck eating our lunch, when I noticed a spotted lanternfly dart by.

“Quick, give me your shoe!” I said to Steven as I stood up from the table, my hand held out, never taking my eyes off of the bug.

“Sure.” Steven said as he slid out of his shower shoe and handed it to me.

The lanternfly had landed on the railing of the deck, I slowly began to sneak up on it. As I got closer I raised the shoe and smacked it down on the railing. “Darn it!” I cried as the bug leapt off of the railing and landed in the grass.

I raced off the deck, tip-toeing through the grass in my bare feet, trying to see where it landed. “Oh, my gosh!” I cried as I scanned the area with no luck. “They’re so fast!”

After a few moments I gave up and went back up the stairs, handing Steven his shoe.

“You gave it a good try.” Steven said and as he put his shoe back on and took a bite of his sandwich.

“I’ll be right back.” I said as I headed for the back door. “I just want to wash my hands before I pick up my sandwich.”

I walked into the kitchen where my son Alex was at the sink rinsing out a dish.

“Were you trying to kill a lanternfly?” he asked as he put the dish in the dishwasher.

“I was.” I said as I pumped some soap in my hand and turned on the water. “How did you know?”

Alex started to laugh. “Well, seeing you run around the back yard holding Dad’s shoe over your head gave me a hint.”

I had to laugh. “I guess that did look pretty funny.” Once my hands were rinsed off I went to dry them with a paper towel. “But I didn’t get it.”

Alex shook his head. “You can’t get all of them.”

My cell phone began to ring and I pulled it out of my back pocket. “Oh, it’s your Aunt Lizzy.” I said holding the phone up to him before answering it.

“So what are you up to today?” she asked me when I answered the phone.

“Well, I’m trying to help stop the spread of the lanternfly.” I looked over at Alex and shrugged my shoulders. “But I wasn’t very successful.”

“I don’t think we’ve had any here in North Carolina.”

“Not yet.” I warned. “But they’re coming!”

“Gee, thanks.” Liz sighed. “I’ll look forward to them.”

“Well, I’m doing my best to get rid of them before they get to you.”

Liz began to laugh. “Thanks!”

I looked back over to Alex. “Now that it’s getting near the end of summer we have to start looking for their egg clusters.”

Alex nodded his head.

“Where do you find those?” Liz asked.

“I think that might be tougher because they can be on trees, telephone poles, fences, cars, just about anything that has a flat surface.” I looked back over at Alex and smiled. “It’ll be like going on a Where’s Waldo hunt!”

“Sounds interesting.” Liz said. “Happy hunting!”

“Thanks.” I couldn’t help but smile again. “I’ve always liked a good challenge.”