Sister Floriana

The Wasp

There is a creature in the animal kingdom, a parasitoid that does not produce, only kills. The difference between a parasite and parasitoid is that the former doesn't necessarily end up killing it's prey. The latter always does.

This creature of course, is known as the wasp. Wasps are a type of insect, in between bees and ants that typically lives a solitary life. While some wasps live in eusocial colonies, the majority go out into the wild to breed on their own, usually by laying their eggs inside another insect or arachnid so as to let its babies eat the thing alive, saving its vital organs for last. 

Wasps, unlike bees, can sting multiple times without dying. In the summer, when colonies have stopped breeding and begin searching for food, they are more likely to encounter and sting humans. Their diet (once they've matured past the living bodies of paralyzed insects) is usually nectar, but unlike bees most of them are not pollinators; they don't spread flowers and other pretty plants. They will actually steal honey from bees if they can get their hands on a hive.

This particular wasp, a yellowjacket belonging to the species Vespula vulgaris, or the European Wasp, was crawling up a big white flower one day, searching for the nectar at the top. What it did not expect to find was the big white face of a girl with a seriously messed-up haircut staring into its jet black eyes.

The wasp thought it was rather close, but not really a danger. And the wasp was hungry. It dove into the flower as the giant human screamed, stumbling backwards and running away. Within moments, it was too far away for the wasp to see. 

Once the wasp had its fill, it flew off to go live the rest of its life. 

Because wasps, like every animal, have their role to play. 

They eat almost every insect that poses a danger to human crops, such as grasshoppers, aphids, and flies. In wartorn Spain, this is vital. 

They themselves act as a food source for the birds known as bee-eaters, and they provide the model for less harmful insects to mimic, to avoid being eaten.

And even if Sister Floriana hated them, and hated having them around, at the back of her mind, she and every other novice and nun in the monastery knew one thing.

Wasps, like everything else on Earth, are one of God's magnificent creations!