Chapter 3 - Family

Mother.

Years ago, on an evening where the tension between me and mom was so thick that it burned through the walls between her bedroom and mine like an invisible acid, I wished for a different mother. We'd fought about the way I returned a cup to her table. Her gaze withered me before she could even get to the words. I'd set it down in anger, just like my father did. No, mom, I just set it down fast because I wanted to get back to my game. But I shouldn't be so cruel, I could hurt her. And on and on. 

She had all the power in the household, even before dad was gone, and she knew it. Whatever I got from her were just token, peasant scraps. My brain tossed inside my head, like both a wave and a flame. Anyone else! Give me anyone else for a mother! I begged the heavens above the static-pattern of my ceiling.

When the waves had stopped roiling and the flames had smothered to ashes, I glanced to my side. An immense, black beetle, as large as my pinkie, wiggled its antenna in the air as it faced me. My palm flattened it against the comforter, and it took several disinfecting wipes before I felt comfortable enough to lie down again.     

If this was the ultimate result of that angry wish, then whatever heard it missed my point. 

After introducing itself, the creature touched the lower part of my body, continuing, "And you are Grete Mudwell. May you always have swift legs and a full belly." 

Did whatever kind of species a Sh-ashimi? Sashimi? Shoeshem?...was actually have a belly? I vaguely recalled a thorax and an abdomen from an old biology class but those were 'human' words. But then all of these were human words going through my human...spirit? We were both probably just making vibrations and hisses with parts and fluids. 

I made a few more, asking, "Who else is there?"

Bug hatchlings didn't seem to be on a first-name basis with their parents as it explained, "Your father is out scavenging with your sister, Sana, and brother, Silt, but he can't wait to meet you. Your sisters, Flax and Tula, draw together like dew and stay that way even as the bitter light blazes. Lapis and Anise love to make frantic loops of Mudwell, no matter how many others they disturb. Ewan and Beryl, both think they're ready to leave but can barely peek through the opening before they run back to hide behind me. Pembrick...oh sweet Pembrick...please stay away from him. And, lastly, your sisters Riva and Citrine are at my side. Come here, my darlings, and say hello to your sister. She needs every shade of help we can give her."

I hoped she didn't notice that my brain glazed over at about the fifth name. Still, for a muddy hole with insects, it was much more manageable than I feared. Other creatures that looked like them darted here and there but just this group was enough. Flax and Tula, I'd heard before by name and they were both bigger than me but that was about all I could discern about them. The rushing duo were just blurs. Those timid brothers were smaller than the girls but, again, still bigger than me. Pembrick hadn't been gestured to, so I had no idea exactly who I needed to avoid. And the sisters. 

It didn't take much more than their mother's urging before they were all over me, touching and examining parts that I wasn't ready to claim or even comprehend. Not to say the touch was bad but I hadn't even shaken a hand for days. And now I had two girls grooming things that shouldn't even be a part of me. And we were naked!

At least put on some dew, like other bugs! Though I hadn't seen everyone, the most the Mudwells I'd met wore was a light coating of mud. The grass garbed ones and those sheltered in silken shapes passed by without so much as a gesture our way. I noticed and wondered, even while I tolerated what Citrine and Riva were doing to me. Like everyone else, they were bigger than me but not by as much. 

As the 'mother' fussed around with everyone else, I thought about striking up a conversation with the two of them, but the list of topics seemed sparse. 

'So, do you like being insects?' 

'Eaten anything good lately?'

'What are your thoughts on mud and the dark?'

While I thought all those things, actually speaking them or vibrating and hissing them, was as impossible as any girls I'd talked to in my real life. Citrine was in charge though and Riva listened. Massage this part of the antenna. Make sure the entire length is clean. Gently there, it can hurt (I appreciated that). You don't want her to catch The Death. 

For all the names these bugs had for things, calling something "The Death" sure didn't mess around. If the 'mother' wanted the V-word to hit as hard as possible, then she should just call it that, or the "Will-Kill-Yous".  

"Hi...", was ultimately all I could offer. 

"...Hi", said Citrine, between checking around my face. The gross, alien nature of this form, along with being touched by two others like that, slowly waned and it actually started to feel nice. That was until Citrine found an especially damp patch of mud. After scurrying away, she soon returned with a cargo of something cold, brown, and foul. I was drenched in an icy, disgusting shower of what had no sanitary right to be called water. 

Of course, Citrine thought it was hilarious as she rolled on her back. Riva looked away.  

After that christening, Citrine wiped the drops from my vision and declared, "Welcome to the family, little sis."