Fatima Tariq – June 17, 2020
^{Edited by Rabhia Shuja}

A moth came and perched on our kitchen wall. I was preparing rice and salad. I leaned in to peer at its beady black eyes blinked and stared back at me impenetrably. There’s been a locust attack. Crops may have, well, who am I kidding, are getting ruined.

“We tried to warn you guys.” I heard the moth say. What was it doing here? Away from the herd. My mother told me later, she’d seen so many moths and learned of the locust attack. People were saying this flock of Patangay was going to and fro.

“I’m just bored. I came wandering here, settled to rest here a while. The flock can do whatever plundering it wants to for all I care. I wasn’t in favor of it, you know?

My father even risked his life and tried to warn the guys at your human departments. But they seemed too busy to pay heed. What can we do now? Two wings can’t stop a flock, can it? Well, now they’ve set out to invade. You’ve kept us at bay for years. Not for long. We did try to warn you.

Well, it’s Allah’s will. He has blessed us now with this bounty, this unrivaled victory. Whoever Allah wishes to grant victory and bounty. Ameen.”, the moth continued his monologue, dry as his papery wings.

I cut up the vegetables. Clearing the fish-shaped cutting board, I washed it. Water may end soon too. 2025 is near. Lahore already has clean water scarcity. What will we do? Already the price hike is too much. What will people do? Die of hunger or suicide? Will we, even the affluent ones get by? I’m not sure.

The locust moth continued his toneless staring at my back. Will we be forced to eat them?

“No, you’d have poisoned us by then too. This COVID thing has really helped us. Everyone is so distracted by this invisible force, they didn’t even notice us, the materially visible things, not even huge flocks of us. Very ego-wounding, I’d say. It certainly added to the fuel.

Well, it helps that you have these light sucking things in your hands. Are these the new candles?  Rather flat they are. We like them. It seems you guys too have become attracted to the fire and light. Well, good for you. Anyhow, we’re glad. We’re having a massive surge in our quantity, and we’re going strong, no one to stop us really.”

Suppose we’d fry them and crunch on the legs? Scrumptious. Munchies.

“Good good.”, as if he had heard me.

I sit and stare around. A fly whizzes near checks me out, dislikes what it finds and flies away. Above, as the fan whirls with speed and noise, the fly rides in a swirl and spirals away as if it’s on a creamy smooth ride in the air.

I try to pray. I ought to be praying. Praying to dear God. This year seems to be a year of many calamities. Only they’ve just begun. Oh, I had just found the love of my life. So much for that. We’ll have to face these challenges. Maybe we’ll get used to them. I think it’s a year we’re all waking up, science hasn’t got our back. It doesn’t have all the answers.  Humans aren’t invincible. We don’t have all the answers, all the solutions. All the imaginable stuff ready. Nature is still going strong. It’s a reality check by nature. Is nature different from God? No, no. Nature is a force controlled by God. By Allah. So much for the human clones and genetic testing. China’s made a mutant virus and the experiment was deliberately or accidentally released.

“It’s still God’s will”, said the moth.