El Mosquito

Last night Shanti and I found ourselves turning on the light at pronounced intervals, standing on the bed, swinging books and newspapers around, mistaking holes in our Styrofoam ceiling for our despised, hated enemy; searching desperately for that chingada of a college-educated mosquito. Finally, after 20 minutes of examining the walls and cracks, I found it, hovering nervously above the dirty toilet, quivering with fear, and awaiting what I hoped would be its certain death. I whacked it with Hayduke Lives!, (sorry Kate) the sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang, and an excellent read, full of Mormon inanities, clever Abbeyian analogies, and Salt Lake City humourisms. And blood, OUR hard-working, Spanish-learning, sleep and oxygen deprived blood splattered all over the praise for Edward Abbey´s 13th novel. Success!