Joe the Bug Hunter: The Apprentice

“What’s that Joe?”

“A worm.”

“Oh. What’s that Joe?”

“A beetle.”

“Oh. Joe, what’s that?”

Joe sighed and looked at his younger brother Jake. He’d nicknamed him “What’s That” for obvious reasons.

“What’s tha—”

“Jake, you’re driving me crazy!” Joe shouted.

Joe instantly regretted his outburst as Jake looked down at his toes with a sad face. He put his arm around his little brother and smiled.

“Tell you what buddy, how about I take you on my next bug hunt and show you how it’s done?”

Jake smiled and nodded his head, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.

Joe was going to take him on a bug hunt!

***

“Over here is where I let the praying mantis loose. It’s helping keep pests like aphids and Japanese beetles away.”

“Cool,” said Jake. “Can we find it?”

Joe grinned and shook his head. He knew it would be near impossible to spot the insect. It camouflaged itself too well. He was lucky to have found one.

Jake and Joe walked throughout the property stopping every once and awhile to investigate for worms under rocks, or for Joe to tell of the many adventures he’d had hunting for bugs.

By the time Joe had told of all his adventures, it was dusk and time to go in for dinner.

Joe smiled as he watched Jake bounce up to the house and thought of the time he and his cousins had started a war with Japanese beetles.

They were outnumbered and ready to give in when Jake came running out with the dust buster…the original bug gun before Joe upgraded.

Jake had saved the day.

Joe stopped, an idea had suddenly popped into his head.

He had been overwhelmed with the amount of bugs in the garden and swales this year. He’d found a black slug and a weird worm already, not to mention the creatures he’d collected in the early spring.

He needed help. He needed someone to train in the art of hunting bugs.

With twinkling eyes he ran after Jake.

“Hey Jake! I have an idea…”