A Head Full of Angry Wasps by Tim Kirton

The wasps had exited their nest and had been circling, buzzing, and stinging at him all afternoon.

Now they had gathered in the kitchen for an all-out assault.

A dinner plate fizzed in front of his face and smashed loudly against the wall, splintering and tumbling to the floor in a thousand shards.

He hadn’t managed to move a muscle when another whooshed above his head.

Even within this cocoon of tumultuous mayhem, he couldn’t help thinking what a rotten shot she was.

Eventually, she found her aim, and a couple of coffee mugs caught him on the thigh and upper arm. The hits weren’t painful, but he picked up his son’s red laminate food tray from the empty high chair to fend off any other incoming missiles, should there be any.

She threw down the dishcloth into the washing-up bowl so violently that water splashed up all over the window. She then ran at him full pelt with her fists flying.

He managed to catch onto her wrists and searched deep into those mysterious, dark brown eyes for clues, but as usual, there were none. She wrestled free, turned, and slunk down the wall, sobbing uncontrollably. Her head hung down like an exhausted rag doll.

He slid down next to her and held her sud-soaked hand tenderly. Her shoulders shuddered and bounced.

Eventually, the tears subsided, but there were no words.

In fairness, there wasn’t much more to say to each other. They’d long since stopped trading insults and, to his knowledge, exhausted all the expletives and profanity known to man.

Recognising that the wasps were now safely back in their nest, he released his hand, stood up, and from the tall utility cupboard, took out the long-handled soft-bristled brush and began sweeping up the debris.

Crockery shopping tomorrow.

Tim Kirton is a semi-retired Physical Education and English teacher who is a successful children’s novelist and prize-winning flash and short fiction writer. His work can be seen published in Black Ink Fiction, Trembling with Fear, The Paul Cave Prize, Cranked Anvil, Doug Weller’s Six-word Anthologies, Free Flash Fiction, Dicot Writers, Glittery Literary, and 101 Word Submissions, amongst others. He is passionate about Golf, Arsenal, American Dirty Realism, and Estuaries. He lives in the Peak District and has one son living in Australia.

A Head Full of Angry Wasps made the FFF Competition Thirty-One Longlist

Photo by Don Ricardo on Unsplash

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