Saturday, July 21, 2012

Ernesto and the Big Beetle

When I was in third grade at Tamarisk Elementary School we had the option of going to the "Special Education" classes to volunteer our time during lunch.  I think this was a way to de-segregate the two populations within the school.

I remember these times being very fun, making a lot of friends and having very rewarding experiences.   There was a boy the same age as me.

His name was Ernesto.

Ernesto was always so happy, always smiling and always fun to spin with outside in the grass fields.  We would all go out in those fields and spin in circles until we dropped dizzily to the ground laughing.

One day Ernesto walked up and tapped me on the shoulder and ran off a bit laughing.  I laughed and asked him, what?  Then he tapped me again and laughed and ran off a bit.  This cycle continued a bit and I was trying to understand the game.

Then he pointed, at my shoulder.  The place where he had been tapping.

There on my shoulder he had placed a VERY large shiny black beetle.  We called them stink bugs.  Here is a photo from www.desertusa.com  that may or may not be the same as the beetle who was too close for comfort.


When I saw that beetle, there was no spinning.  There was running and screaming in sheer terror.  Somehow it fell off my shoulder in my panic.  

Poor Ernesto, I never quite trusted him to get that close to me again.  


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