The Ladybug who Came for Coffee

In the initial phase of the Pandemic everything was rather haphazard as it dawned on people that this situation would disrupt their lives, slowing down the rather harried pace of their usual existence. But now the situation had become real as the dust settled and everything quieted down temporarily. Even Mother Earth sighed in relief with pollution becoming less severe over the major industrialized cities; wildlife  like jellyfish and dolphins returning to the usually polluted waters of Venice and the Manatees those slow moving leviathans of South Florida, felt less anxiety as they traversed the waterways, no longer afraid of the propellers that could cut them. The effect was that as time screeched to a halt and the dust settled, little changed in the homes of people. Objects that in more normal frenzied times would migrate around a room over time, sat in one place. Into this static environment I decided to brew a pot of coffee and bake a batch of cookies. I put three cookies out with the coffee. While scanning the room and noticing the apparent lack of change, I observed something different, a speck on the ceiling and became transfixed on it, very surprised at its presence having never noticed it before. Slowly, through imperceptible, minuscule variations, the spot moved. It was a ladybug! Momentarily, she flew down and landed on the table staring directly at me as if to say “What poor manners. Do you offer nothing to your guests?” Unwilling to quibble over the apparent lack of an invitation to coffee having been sent and not wishing to be impolite or scare away my uninvited guest, I gingerly eased a drop of coffee and some cookie crumbs near the beetle whom I had named Queen Mum.

To my surprise the ladybug first crawled over to the coffee, had a sip and then a crumb of cookie. In my previously hectic life, I had never noticed how beautiful a ladybug was. Her face and appendages were a dark black. In contrast, her shell was a bright, glossy, luminous red like a very small candy apple, a marvel of nature that in busier times would have been missed except in the hidden research halls of a natural history museum. The black spots on the shell created a beautiful distinction. Queen Mum worked away at the chocolate chip cookie crumbs washing it down with a spot of coffee. Quickly, the sugar and caffeine kicked in and the ladybug did a little dance turning around in circles fluttering her previously dormant wings then returning to the snack. This did not seem appropriate behavior for royalty, but I let it pass. I commented on her beautiful shell and asked if she knew any Queen Bees, but received no reply. To fill the void in conversation I put on the National Geographic Channel which was showing a program on insects. Just then in response to some unseen internal clock the ladybug decided it was time to leave, turning to me as if to say “Thank you for your hospitality!” She flew away, out an open window never to return having been a welcome change to this quiet existence while not bugging me in the least.

Jim

Apr 2020