On his tiny fly wings, Brad approached a puddle that formed at the base of a tomato vine thick enough to remind him of something from “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
He had no way to know that his neighbor had given a liberal dosing of liquified manure to his thriving produce.
He landed, his little skinny legs touching down daintily in a pool that would have knocked his socks off if flies wore them.
As it was, he “tasted” something incredible, the information relayed from the sensors in his tiny feet to his teeny brain, which gave the command for his proboscis to start pumping and sponging up putrid sips from the puddle.
About the time that Brad lost himself in a wave of gluttony for what appeared as an endless supply of nutrients for his puny form, his husband finally arrived home, dropped off by a uber driver. He ma de just enough noise in thanking the driver and slamming the passenger side door closed that his transformed spouse heard it as far away as the neighbor’s yard.
Brad emerged from a self-induced fog stimulated by an orgy of feeding. With a twitch of his wings he headed back over the fence dividing the two yards. He saw Mark’s massive form shambling up the front walk. In one hand, his giant spouse carried a paper bag with his purchased batteries.
He tried to increase his speed as Mark opened the front door.
“Babe! Wait!” Brad wanted to scream as he zipped closer, hoping to get back inside before…
The door closed, pulled shut by Brad’s husband as soon as he stepped inside.
“Brad!” Mark’s voice carried on the other side of the door. “Sorry it took so long. I’ve got the batteries.”
Brad hovered outside the monolithic door. He flew from top to bottom, shivering slightly when he encountered an almost invisible web tucked into a corner of the door frame and the base of a light fixture.
He was fortunate he had missed flying into the sticky strands, but the web helped to clarify his thoughts and reinforce his dilemma. He was on the wrong side of the door from Mark, those batteries and the Chronivac.
Instead, he was now stranded in a world of spider webs, bigger bugs and all sorts of other easily imagined perils for a lone, tiny housefly.