Lord Of The Flies

A friend's recent post on her daughter's funny reaction to some flies in their house reminded me to capture this little "snapshot" story of Luke.

Luke has always been a lover of bugs. You've probably read a post or two on Luke's bug-love before. He loves them deeply, and if he gets his hands on one, well, he is so happy, so full of joy, that he loves it to death. He loves all bugs; he does not discriminate. He loves to watch them and follow them. He doesn't much like to have them crawling on him, but he does like to hold them in his fingers (which usually results in a dead bug). One of his favorite gifts from Grandma was a bag of rubber bugs. I think he might become an entomologist when he grows up.

There is no bug I find more disgusting than a fly. Flies sit on, consume and regurgitate poop. Does a bug get nastier than that? They are dirty, germ-carrying, decay- and waste-loving, annoying little pests and I am pretty darn good at sneaking up on them and turning them to fly-smoosh. This year Colorado Springs has had a huge number of flies buzzing around. Usually we are pretty bug-free. The temperature extremes and the altitude combine to keep the bug populations low. But something about the way this warm, dry summer has proceeded has allowed the flies to multiply irregularly and it is not welcome by me. But Luke loves it.

In mid-August we had some fruit flies that converged on some bananas that were waiting to be made into bread. There were so many that I just tossed the bananas out because I was so grossed out by the flies and all the invisible nastiness I was sure they were seeping into my bananas just by landing on them that I was no longer willing to eat bread made from the fly-touched bananas. But from that point on all the flies Luke sees, house flies, horse flies, fruit flies, gnats, etc. are known only as "fruit flies."

Luke's imagination is going wild right now. He's so hilarious and creative. The ideas and stories and situations he comes up with are just fascinating. In the past few weeks, he started talking about his friend Fruit Fly. He'd call to Fruit Fly to follow him. He'd make sure Fruit Fly was with us in the car to travel around. Sometimes Fruit Fly would just be in his imagination, but whenever a real fly or two (or ten) gets in the house he's talking up a storm to them, calling them his friend Fruit Fly. He takes naps with Fruit Fly. He plays games with Fruit Fly. He lets Fruit Fly outside when Fruit Fly wants out, and lets Fruit Fly in when he's ready to come back in. It's so cute, and so gross all at once.

Sadly for Luke, I am, as I always have been, a fly killer. Out of pure revulsion I cannot help myself. One night at dinner, a particularly pesky fly was making its desire to make our dinner its own very clear and I made a swat at it. I was not thinking about Luke's friend Fruit Fly even a little bit. But Luke sure was! And when he realized I was trying to kill the fly he totally flipped. "No! Mom! He's my friend!" Deep sobbing ensued. This was not usual tantrum crying, the kind that we get pretty regularly from Luke that he can turn on and off pretty quickly because he's just trying to work one angle or another. This was true broken-hearted hurt. Like I would cry if I thought someone was trying to kill one of my friends, my human friends. He was really devastated. I was so glad I had missed or I would have felt TERRIBLE! How could I have forgotten Fruit Fly?! Oh, I know how...I hate flies!! Why did Luke's imaginary/real friend have to be a fly?!!! Luke only seemed to slowly recover when he noticed the fly still buzzing around our dinner. Which I could no longer eat because it had landed on my plate.I still hate flies. I still think they are grody and disgusting. I still kill them whenever I can. Luke still loves flies. He still thinks they are his friends. He still wants to catch one and keep it forever. So now I have to be very stealth in my fly swatting. Not only do I have to sneak up on the fly, but I have to make sure Luke is nowhere around. I couldn't break my little boy's heart by killing his friend Fruit Fly! I'm not a monster. At least I don't want Luke to think I am. I don't care what the flies think.

I sure can't wait until he makes a new imaginary friend. Unless it's Hairy Spider. Flies might be gross, but spiders...they're scary! {shudder}