Let That Hornet Alone

 When Andy my eldest son was small he loved insects. I have vivid memories of him catching butterflies while playing in clover while it was blooming. While in the clover he would be on his hands and knees pretending he was a cow. I can see a piece of clover dangling from his mouth. If cell phones had been available I would taken a video of him. It was a precious moment for this proud daddy.

I warned him as he tried to catch honeybees pollinating the clover blooms. Thankfully, he was never fast enough to catch honeybees. The bees were too busy working to be distracted by Andy. I explained to Andy what the bees were doing and how if angered they would retaliate. He would occasionally catch one in a fruit jar and listen to the bee hum.

One time I found Andy chasing a large reddish/orange, black striped ant known in Alabama as a Red Velvet scrambling across the backyard. He was trying to catch the Red Velvet. I had never been stung by one and did not know if it would sting. I did find that its sting is potent and venom not highly toxic, but the sting is painful. But back then, I did not want Andy to test the power of the ant. I convinced him to catch it in a jar.

Before it became unlawful to ride in an automobile unrestricted, Andy would ride in the back of my 1967 Cutlass Supreme. One morning in route to his Granny’s and Papa Andy chased a hornet in the rear window. Watching from the rearview mirror, I warned Andy not to catch the hornet saying, "Let that hornet alone." I knew that hornets were vicious attackers defending nests aggressively. Hornet stings may cause severe pain or allergic reactions including anaphylaxis.

Hornets, like Andy, love honeybees. Hornets destroy honeybee hives. Hornets build large aerial nests that can house up to 6,000 workers. Thank the Lord that Andy was only trying to catch one. He was successful. I knew because it let out a big cry and had a swollen finger as proof. I was glad that Andy did not anger the hornet enough to cause havoc in the Cutlass. 

A refrigerated Swift meat truck turned over not too far from our house because the driver and helper tried to fight a hornet or wasp while driving. Wrecking the truck was bad enough but returning from a half mile walk to a local store to call for help, the two men found that travelers emptied the truck with the exception of a side of beef laying in the door.

One of the funniest stories about hornets happened when I worked for Hiwassee Land Company one summer break from high school. My cousin Larry was hacking on a small tree with an injector used to pump weed killer into trees and became covered in yellowjackets. His pants were yellow.

Not to be distracted, Larry began slapping the yellow jackets from his blue jeans. He was totally unaware that above him was a large hornet nest about the size of a football buzzing with hundreds of kamikaze hornets. His coworkers and I watched this cartoonish episode. Larry swatting yellow jackets was saying, “I think I’m in a yellow jacket nest.” We yelled to Larry trying to warn him of the aerial attack above him.

Larry playing the part of a slow thinking redneck experienced, trying to be funny or something, felt the wrath of a kamikaze as a hornet zeroed in on his back between his shoulders. Larry threw the injector and plunged to the ground in the agony of the sting. Scrambling there for a second, he tried running from the hundreds of chasing hornets escaping through the bushes. I smile at that event every time I think of Hiwassee adventures. 

The Bible speaks of hornets chasing folks. 

I will send the hornet before you, and it shall drive out the Hivites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. Exodus 23:28 KJV

I sent the hornet before you, and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites before you; it was not by your sword or bow. Joshua 24:12

Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them, until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. Deuteronomy 7:20 KJV