The Goats Knew

Tarantula Hawks!

"I'm sorry," Scott couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You have a box of hornets?"

"Not just hornets," Theo held the package up proudly. "These are Tarantula Hawks! I have contacts all over the country."

"But a box of wasps?" Scott nervously looked around to see if either of his parents were nearby.

"A box of Tarantula Hawks." Theo seemed unaffected by Scott's nervousness. "These are very special wasps. Is Emily here? I have something to show the two of you."

"No," Scott managed to say. "But we can go pick her up. We were planning on getting together this afternoon."

"Good. I'm very excited about this new development. I'll wait in my car and follow you when you leave."

"Right." Scott gave the box Theo was carrying a suspicious gaze before heading back into the house to call Emily and let her know what was up.

Twenty minutes later, Theo, Scott and Emily were sitting around a table in the backyard at Emily's. Most of the Christmas snow had melted, and though it wasn't exactly warm, it wasn't as cold as it could have been for a New Year's Eve.

"Scott tells me you've got some hornets with you." Emily sounded less suspicious and more excited than Scott had.

"That's right," Theo replied. "I spent most of the weekend looking into what totems would be appropriate for our task. I found one that I believe is represented on the spear. I was also lucky enough to have a friend in the right place to send me a few of the little fellows."

"My parents don't allow smoking..." Emily said as she watched Theo ignore her and light a small pipe.

"Ah, but this is a special occasion," Theo responded as he picked the box off the bench and placed it on the table. He gently opened a corner of the box and, holding it close to his lips, he blew a cloud of smoke into the box.

"Are you getting them stoned?" Scott asked, with a smile.

"No," Theo replied. "No, this is tobacco. The smoke will confuse them, settle them down enough to handle them safely."

"Handle them?" Emily, who had been leaning forward to watch, cautiously moved back. "Careful you don't get stung."

"That's what the smoke is for," Theo said, almost gleefully. "Anyway, these wasps aren't dangerous... to us."

Theo set the box down on the table and lifted the cover. Scott and Emily both moved back, expecting a swarm of angry hornets to emerge. But instead, they saw one of the insects climb calmly out of the box and onto the back of Theo's hand.

Emily's eyes were wide as she exclaimed, "I thought you said they were little!"

The wasp's wingspan was easily four inches across. The 'little' beast was nearly as large as Theo's hand. It didn't seem to be upset at all from its travels in the box, but Scott figured that was probably the smoke. As it started walking up Theo's arm, he reached around and let it walk onto his other hand. He then gently shook it off into the box and closed it.

"I have only three of the fellows at the moment." Theo made sure the box was closed tightly. "I don't know how many we may need but these are certainly the totems we want."

"But I thought tarantulas were spiders." Emily said, though it was clearly a question.

"Yes." Theo replied. "In the southwest deserts, the tarantulas get quite large. Though not nearly as large as our friend back there in the forest."

"Ok. Tarantulas are spiders and hawks are birds." Scott was equally confused. "So what's the connection?"

"As I said, these are very special wasps. You see they are called tarantula hawks because they hunt tarantulas. I suppose hawks because they hunt from the air like a predatory bird. But, not only do they hunt spiders for a living, they do it in a very special way.