I had gone to a friend’s mountain home to check on the property in Doyle, California for him. It had been unoccupied for many months. Wild rose bushes were overgrown and cobwebs were everywhere. I took a walk down to the brook, a hundred yards or so from the house. There, the owner kept an old Airstream trailer.
I found the key to the trailer in its secret hiding place under a specific rock, and I unlocked the padlock to the door on the old trailer.The door seemed stuck, but I tugged at it and pulled it open only to discover a swarm of crawly black things… a hundred or so?… behind the grillwork of the screen door.
At first I thought the creatures were black widow spiders because they were so large (for spiders), but when a few of them flew away I realized I had stirred up a nest of hornets… large ones.
I quickly closed the door and locked the padlock. Hornets locked inside. No problem. No harm done. I escaped any attack.
What a coincidence, I thought to myself. This reminds me of the hornet’s nest I stirred up when I opened the door to an attempt at communication with a person I hardly know… A quick and immediate attack was hurled. I ducked in time.
No, thank you, I’ll just keep that door closed and locked too.
Luckily, I didn’t get stung in either situation.
