and after the breakup .
When Joe ’ s eyes opened again , it was over . The sky was once again blue and cloudless . He gave a dry laugh . The Cloud everyone had feared passed within the span of a minute and did nothing but color the sky . He opened his book again , flipping back to page one to try and read something other than Holly West ’ s name . He was halfway down the first page when something caught his eye , nearly making him jump out of the chair .
There was a wasp crawling onto the pages of his book from the back of it , but it was like none he had ever seen . Its body was longer than normal , and it had four thin wings like a dragonfly ’ s . It was striped with red and black along its abdomen . He had no idea an insect like this existed .
Joe had the sudden urge to smash the bug in the book , but the book was borrowed , and he didn ’ t want to end up paying for it when the elderly librarian checked it to find a smashed wasp on page one . He sat as still as possible , waiting for it to fly away , but it didn ’ t . It settled itself halfway down the page and looked up , as it were observing Joe with its compound eyes and sensing with its black , curled antennas .
There was a tingling feeling on Joe ’ s right arm , and he turned his head slowly to see a swarm of red and black wasps crawling all over it . Every instinct in his body screamed at him to get up and run , but he sat still . They weren ’ t biting or stinging him . They were just crawling . The Wasps took to the air , leaving his arm . There seemed to be a lot more of them now , and they surrounded him with a humming that seemed as comforting to his ears and inside his head as they had been to his skin . The swarm sped up , circling him in a cyclone of red and black . The heat of the late afternoon sun seemed to be lifted , and Joe ’ s body became cooler . He felt as if he could fully relax for the first time since he had decided to leave Hal .
Joe closed his eyes as his body relaxed , and he felt as if it was lifted from the chair . He was no longer using his eyes , but he saw hundreds or maybe thousands of tiny images zooming past his field of vision . He knew this would normally disorient him , but the eyes he was using weren ’ t physically connected to his brain . He didn ’ t know how he was doing it , but he was watching himself and the surrounding backyard from the many eyes of the swarm .
Something felt oddly comforting about the wasps . He raised his hand , and he wasn ’ t surprised to find they weren ’ t perturbed enough to start stinging in an angry frenzy . He waved his arm past his face , and they buzzed as they fell off , moving back onto his skin .
Joe smiled . They seemed to be a friendly swarm . He looked in the tree above him for the nest , but he saw none . He looked around to see if they were coming from a hole in the ground , but he didn ’ t see that either . As he bent forward to look down some sweat fell from his forehead to the pages of the book . The wasp on the cover turned toward it and then looked at Joe again . He remembered how hot it was , and he wished it was cooler .
The Wasps took to the air , leaving his arm . There seemed to be a lot more of them now , and they surrounded him with a humming that seemed as comforting to his ears and inside his head as they had been to his skin . The swarm sped up , circling him in a cyclone of red and black . The heat of the late afternoon sun seemed to be lifted , and Joe ’ s body became cooler . He felt as if he could fully relax for the first time since he had decided to leave Hal .
Joe closed his eyes as his body relaxed , and he felt as if it was lifted from the chair . He was no longer using his eyes , but he saw hundreds or maybe thousands of tiny images zooming past his field of vision . He knew this would normally disorient him , but the eyes he was using weren ’ t physically connected to his brain . He didn ’ t know how he was doing it , but he was watching himself and the surrounding backyard from the many eyes of the swarm .
Then Joe was soaked , and it was over . The wasps flew into the tree with a renewed buzzing as more water drenched him . Joe sat up suddenly , letting his book fall to the ground . He looked around and saw an old Hispanic man standing with his hose aimed at him . It was Mr . Perez , his neighbor from the first floor .
“ Sorry ,” Mr . Perez said , turning the hose off . “ I saw those wasps swarming all over you while you were asleep . I didn ’ t know what else to do .”
“ It ’ s OK ,” Joe lied , hiding his annoyance . He looked into the tree , but he didn ’ t catch a glimpse of the wasps . He wondered if they were gone forever now that they had been sprayed away by Mr . Perez and his hose . He bent over and picked the library book from the ground , also soaked .
“ There must be a hive or something up there ,” Mr . Perez said , staring in to the leaves of the tree from a safe distance . He was holding the nozzle of the hose like a weapon in case the swarm decided to return for revenge , but there was still no sign of them .
“ Probably ,” Joe said . He walked back toward the house , water dripping from his clothes and the library book for which he now had to pay . He ’ d never find out what Holly West was up to now . “ I think I need to change .”
“ You think that weird space cloud had anything to do with the wasps ?” Mr . Perez asked . “ Maybe it agitated them .”
Joe looked into the sky , expecting the hue to change to confirm his own theory on the swarm . “ I have no idea ,” he said .
Mr . Perez gave him a nod and started reeling the hose back toward the house . “ I ’ m going to call the landlord ,” he said . “ He needs to call an exterminator .”
Joe gave a grunt as he went inside and up the stairs that led to his third floor apartment . He somehow knew no amount of poison would kill off the swarm , and he didn ’ t want it to . He tried to turn on the lights in his apartment , and he remembered that his power had been shut off . With a drawn out sigh , he sat down at the table , pulled the notices from the electric company toward him along with his cell phone , and made the call while he still had some battery in his phone left to do it .