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Sunday, September 28, 2008, 3:14 PM

Myra's Dirt [final/revised/titled version]

Rain fell on the already waterlogged ground. Janelle was on her knees trying to keep her crops from getting completely submerged in the water. The tiny canals removed the water from the small plot of dirt. Softly, she pulled dead leaves off of her vegetables. A basket near her feet was already full of them.
Myra was sleeping under the bloom of a tomato plant when she heard the rustle of leaves being pulled. Her eyes opened and she stretched her wings. In front of her was a half eaten portion of leaf. She absently munched on it and watched Janelle work.
After a few minutes Janelle noticed that the leaves looked different, like they had been torn. She inspected them closer and saw that they had been eaten. Her mind spun as she thought of what would happen if the plant’s leaves slowly deteriorated. A plant without leaves could win no kind of contest. Her mouth opened and a high pitched screech came out as she realized this small act could crush her dreams. Myra’s ladybug wings fluttered open and she flew across the small garden away from Janelle. She would not risk being stepped on.
The next day was bright and sunny, drying up all the left over water from the downpour the day before. Myra was again lounging on a vegetable plant. This day it was a carrot. Janelle strolled to her garden holding a spray bottle filled with some sort of green liquid. She stopped at the plant nearest to her and sprayed. “This should keep the demon bugs from eating my babies now!” her green eyes glowed with satisfaction and she moved on to another plant.
Myra paid no attention to the giant woman spraying pesticide around her and took a bite of the leaf in front of her. Just one bite made no difference to the leaf but after a day she could consume most of a small plant. Her jaws worked the leaf down to a paste before she swallowed.
Janelle had gotten through almost the entire garden when she put down the bottle to take a break. Tiny drops of sweat covered her forehead like clear freckles. She wiped them off with the back of her hand and sat down on the grass. Above them the sky was a bright blue with only a few small wisps of clouds hanging around. The lack of clouds allowed the Sun to shine directly down onto everything making the day very hot. Janelle wiped her head again before resuming her work with the spray bottle.
Myra now saw how close the girl was getting to her with the death spray. Her mind raced as she thought of what she could do. This garden had been her home for longer than any other place so she was rather attached to it. Her little bug mind thought until she decided to try and talk Janelle into leaving a portion of garden unsprayed for her. She flew up around Janelle’s head and began to speak.
“Um, excuse me? If you could please just not spray that over here I would really appreciate it.” Myra’s voice was high pitched to Janelle’s ears. She turned around to see who was talking to her. Puzzled by the empty space around her she turned back to the garden. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
She dropped the bottle next to a squash plant and turned around. “Who’s there? Come out and stay away from anything green!”
Janelle was trying not to panic, her eye twitched as she searched for the source of the voice. Myra sighed, a giant ladybug sigh, and explained to Janelle that she was a ladybug that lived in her garden, that she didn’t mean and harm, and that she would like her to please leave a small area of the garden without bug killer. Janelle was shocked that a bug was talking to her, this was surely the end. At least this was a seemingly nice bug. After a few more minutes of conversation the two became acquainted, not friends, but not enemies either. Janelle agreed to leave 2 plants for Myra as long as she tried to keep other bugs out. Janelle sprayed the rest that she was not leaving for Myra and went back inside.
Later that day she went out again to see if Myra was doing what she said she would. She couldn’t find her, so she started looking through some of the vegetables for her little ladybug. The air was still and quiet as she looked, only the slight sound of leaves brushing could be heard. Janelle stepped forward and heard a small shriek followed by a tiny crunch. She cringed and lifted her foot to see the remains of a ladybug smashed to her shoe. “Eep….” Janelle grimaced and took off her shoe then walked back into her house. Carefully she scraped what was left of Myra into a matchbox. With a pen she scratched “Myra” onto the top of the card board that was to be the ladybug’s coffin. A spade was lying on the ground near the garden and Janelle picked it up and kneeled next to a carrot plant. The ground around it was soft from the rain and Janelle’s constant gardening. With the spade she dug a hole big enough for the matchbox to lie in. Myra’s remains slid from one end of the box to the other as Janelle lowered it into the ground. A small sigh escaped from her mouth as she packed the dirt down over the box. The spray bottle of pesticide was lying on the ground. Janelle picked it up and started spraying.