The Lantern Files Part 2

So for the next few days, I kept going for my walks.  Whenever I would pass by that pool area, I would take some time to stomp out the lanternflies.  That was kind of the highlight of my walk, even though it would slow me down and I knew I wasn't exerting as much if I were to just keep going on my way without stopping.  It was kind of fun and it did take my mind off things for a while.

There are homes on the opposite side of the path.  There is a fence on each side.  The fence by the homes is higher, maybe six feet high.  And the fence by the water is waist high.  

One day I noticed something by the fence next to the water.  On top of it was a lanternfly.  It was just sitting there.  So I took off my right shoe and smashed it.  I put my shoe back on and walked further on.  I got about ten feet ahead when I noticed another one just sitting there again.  So I took off my right shoe again.  And I smashed it again.  And then I put on my shoe and walked on.  And then about another ten feet later, there was another one.  

So this went on for a while.  I would take off my right shoe, crush a lanternfly, put my shoe back on, walk a bit, take off my right shoe again, smash it against the fence, put the shoe back on, and then walk some more.  While I was doing this, I did wonder whether there was someone looking out from their home at that moment watching me, wondering what I was doing.  The lanternfly would have been too small for them to see, so I wonder if they would know that I was killing an insect.  From far away, I probably looked like just a guy taking his right shoe off and putting it back on repeatedly, while hammering it against the fence in between.

After some time, I decided to just keep the shoe off altogether.  So I walked with my left shoe on my foot and the right one in my hand.  Why the right one?  I'm not exactly sure.  I had been stomping away with my right foot.  I figured since that was the shoe that did all the killing, that shoe should be the one to continue the job.  I guess that was my reasoning, but I didn't really think too much about it, really.  I just took off one shoe and stuck with the same one the next time.

So again, there I was with one shoe on and only a sock on the other.  Hunting for lanternflies.  And I did get a whole bunch.  After a while I started to count.  Actually, I may have started counting before I noticed them on the short fences.  I think that first day that I started tracking it, I only got a couple of dozen.  This time around I think I got close to a hundred but not quite.  I probably could have gotten to that figure but after a while, I decided I better head back and check on work.  

I could have stayed outside all day if I continued to let myself get carried away.  I think I was out for over an hour already at that point.  Usually, my walks would be around forty five minutes, if I remember correctly.  When my kids got home, I told him how much lanternflies I killed that day.