Since I mentioned that the birds have been ignoring the quandong near the house, that tree has been alive with bridled and Macleay’s honeyeaters. And giant mutant giant genetically-engineered giant bees. That’s what they look like, anyway. My insect identifications are not always accurate.
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But I can recognise a huntsman spider when I see one and a very large huntsman has moved into the frame of the living room window. As a consequence, the Litoria rubella tree frogs have shifted to the other side. Now, instead of spending the evening sitting on the window panes, they peek out from the safety of the grooves in the aluminium. I can see an amphibian episode of A Current Affair coming up — one of those ‘bad neighbour’ shows, featuring out of focus, shaky surveillance footage of the menacing eight-legged monster that has moved in next door.
V.O:
THERE WILL BE TEARS. THERE WILL BE ACCUSATIONS. THISIS A SHOW THAT NO AUSTRALIAN CAN AFFORD TO MISS.
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Little Poss dropped in again last night. We workshopped the ACA segment with me as pushy reporter and him as taciturn neighbour. He watched me make dinner, ever hopeful that some of that food would make its way through the flyscreen. Then a cicada landed next to him. It was a golden emperor, plump and shimmering and utterly irresistible to a pretend-starving possum. Little Poss grabbed it, bit off its head and wings and then sucked out the innards. He spent the rest of the evening cleaning the goo off his muzzle. It took me a while to get back to my dinner. I had planned on a Cornetto for dessert. After that, it did not seem so appealing.
