Yes, tree vacuuming, I have pictures to prove it. 🙂

A while ago my writing group had an exercise where we had to start a story with an odd line. I can’t remember what mine was exactly, but I had my hero strapping on a buoyancy vest preparatory to mowing a strip of grass on the edge of a cliff. It occurred to me that a recent activity of ours could fall into that same category.

We had an infestation of Bronze Orange Bugs (BOBs) in our Blood Orange Tree. These pesky little beggars suck the life out stems and the result is a loss of leaf and fruit. We Googled the problem (as you do) and it turns out the most effective method of removal is vacuuming. If they are disturbed, they emit a dreadful stink and if you brush up against them they’ll emit a toxin that burns your skin. (Yeah, got that)

So, did we back away from the challenge of vacuuming our orange tree? No way!

Unfortunately, these aren’t the sort of creatures that can just be relocated (like carrying a spider from inside the house to outside). If we released them, they’d simply return or go and devastate someone else’s garden. Yes, they had to go to the big orange tree in the sky. So they got slayed as humanely and quickly as possible.

So, have you read or written any stories that began in an abnormal place in your hero or heroines ‘normal’ world?

🙂

Sandy