Lady of the Flies

 This summer was quite cool compared to the last two and so I had no temporary 'house mates', that is to say 'flies', until it heated up a couple of weeks ago.

Then all of a sudden, along with the heat came the flies. I don't know how so many can find their way into my kitchen but not out of it again, even though the door to the balcony is always open. Sometimes I enter the kitchen and it's like a disco for flies there: their humming sounds like techno music and they're all twirling about.

On the one hand, they annoy me with their noisiness, but on the other, as I live and work alone, I almost welcome them as some company. Then again, I feel guilty that they are basically captive in my kitchen.

So I try to get them out by wrenching open the door and getting behind them and walking towards the door, almost pushing them towards freedom again. Most of the time it works.

There are times, however, when they stray into other rooms and I don't always notice it until it's too late, until I find a poor little jewelled body, shining in dark rainbow colours, lying on the ground or window sill, dead from exhaustion after hours of banging against the window pane. Poor wee things.