Anopheles, my winged female friend, was back after a hiatus. So I updated her on the Coronavirus pandemic that I had managed to survive, and a few other things, like the war in Ukraine. And, of course, the school shootings in the U.S.
She was perplexed.
"I thought you people had more sense," she said.
That was justified, given how it looked. But I tried a defence.
"Not all of us are like that," was my lame defence.
"What are you going to do about this? Are you trying to stop the war? At least the rich guys in the West?"
I had to confess "Not exactly, they are sending more weapons, huge quantities, to Ukraine."
"And the gun lobby is not about to give up either, on tighter laws to stop individual proliferation."
"But we have almost stopped the pandemic," I said, looking at the brighter things.
"Tell me, do you also have wars?" I was curious about her world.
"Yes, but only a war of words. Or buzzwords, if you want to be technical about it. Whoever creates a larger buzz, wins," she said.
"And what are some of these buzzwords?" I asked her.
"Energy through Efficient Flapping, Minimum noise, maximum output or Efficiency in Bites, Working around Mosquito Nets and other Obstacles, Co-opetition for Sharing Prey, Information System Updates to Find your Quarry, Investigating the Effect of Burgers and Pizzas on Blood Quality of Humans... there are lots."
"Illuminating, I said," and switched off the light, while bidding her good night!
