It was a clear evening, with the very first stars peeking out from behind earth's atmosphere. The Idaho sunset through the kitchen window was gorgeous: beautiful cirrus clouds absorbing the sun's rays and glowing with the many familiar shades of red, pink, orange and blue that come with every Idaho sunset.
I prepared myself with a meal of turkey and "Idaho Famous" mashed potatoes. I poured gravy over the potatoes while I watched the pot of turkey stock bubbling on the stove. I had just sat down to eat when there was a knock on the door.
Whoever was there kept knocking. "Okay, okay, I'm coming!" I muttered. When I opened the door to Billy, the neighborhood bully, I was about to slam the door in his face, until he explained his plan. "Hey, do you want to have a fight between my tarantula hawk wasp and your tarantula?"
I hesitated. I didn't want my poor tarantula to get hurt, which she probably would if she actually fought one of the tarantula's greatest enemies. But if my tarantula won, she would eat the wasp and I would show Billy who was boss. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I would like to," I replied.
Billy had his wasp in ajar. I brought my tarantula, named Pricilla, out to the neighborhood potato patch, and set her down. Billy opened the jar. The battle was on.
<I was set down in the middle of a potato patch facing a huge, black wasp. I knew what the wasp was and what it does to tarantulas. My eyes widened, and I whimpered to myself, "Mother ". The wasp glared at me with its hideous, compound eyes. It snorted at me and prepared to leap. I dodged it, and it landed an inch away from me. I leapt back, breathing hard. The wasp flew into the air and swooped. It was diving at me at seemingly the speed of sound, with its deadly stinger poised. Then, everything slowed. My mind operated at the speed of light, and in an instant, I had the terrifying wasp pinned. I withdrew my fangs and slightly pierced it, pumping enough venom only to paralyze the hideous thing, for I didn't want to kill it. It took me a moment to realize that I had won.>
Pricilla backed away from the tarantula hawk wasp laying on the ground in paralysis. She turned toward me and looked up in my direction, and seemed like she was actually trying to-smile. I put my hand in front of her for her to climb on, and she happily did. I gave her a tiny kiss. Billy gawked, eyes as big as saucers and mouth gaping wide open, at the crumpled heap of paralyzed wasp that had once been his pet. His eyelid twitched.
"Hey, it's alright, man!" I sympathized. "Your wasp will be as good as new in a few hours. It's just paralyzed." "You mean it's not dead?" "No," I replied. Billy scooped up his pet and put it back into the jar.
From that night forward, Billy was a changed person. He had become friends with all the nerds at school like me. He now respected their feelings. And most importantly: he didn't bully them anymore!