Did any of you ever read this book as a kid? It involves a duck named Henry, who is making dinner for his friend Clara when he notices an ant in his kitchen. According to this review, what ensues is “adorable” and “hilarious.” According to young me, it was horrifying. Henry tries to smash the ant with a hammer, which cracks the wall, which eventually hits a pipe, which sprays water all over his kitchen… and on and on until he has completely destroyed his home.
I’ve been thinking about this book a lot lately, due to my kitchen’s infestation of fruit flies. Every time I touch something, a small cloud of vile little black dots takes to the air. I want them to die in a fire. The trouble is, that fire would be in my kitchen. Oh Henry, what a cautionary tale you turned out to be!
6 responses so far ↓
1 Allen // Sep 7, 2008 at 12:13 am
We have them too.
I wonder if there are any public housing charities specificallly for people who destroyed their homes in fruitfly-infestation-removal accidents.
2 Jaime Alberts // Sep 7, 2008 at 3:29 pm
you know how to make traps, right?
j
3 Arun // Sep 11, 2008 at 10:33 am
We used to have fun with the vaccuum cleaner. We used the wand attachment and pretended we were using a light saber to catch the fruit flies. It does actually reduce their quantities if you do it regularly. And prentending it’s a light saber helps make it fun.
Or maybe that’s a boy thing.
4 Sam // Sep 11, 2008 at 7:42 pm
J: I do know how to make traps, but my flies, unfortunately, don’t fly into them. We seem to have bred super-intelligent flies that know to avoid jars with cider vinegar and wine in them.
Arun: Hee! That’s adorable. :)
5 Doug Orleans // Sep 12, 2008 at 3:39 pm
This makes me think of Six Feet Under when Lili Taylor tried to talk the ants into leaving her kitchen.
6 Doug Orleans // Sep 12, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Also, that book is a nice metaphor for America’s response to 9/11. And by nice I mean depressing.
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