A bug-free summer and its ominous implications.
Notice fewer insects around this summer? Yeah, there's a reason for that, and it's terrifying.
So here’s an item that falls in the category of something I never thought I would feel bad about, but do: the summer is about half over and I haven’t been troubled at all by insects. I haven’t gotten a single mosquito bite this season. This is the first summer in the history of my entire life that I can make that claim. I’m one of those people who is unusually attractive to mosquitoes compared to other people. Colloquially those of us with this propensity sometimes say we have “sweet blood,” but there is a biological reason for it, something to do with the scent we give off. If there’s a single hungry mosquito with a thousand square miles, it will find me and sting me, ignoring everyone else around. Mosquitoes seem especially attracted to my ankles and areas around my toe knuckles, which are maddening and excruciating places to have itchy spots. Cortisone cream and the usual remedies are of slight benefit but not much. Summer is often an agonizing season for me, as at any time between late May and early September, it’s rare for me to have less than three active mosquito bites somewhere on my body at the same time.
This year, nothing. We can leave the windows open in our apartment all night without fear of itchy invaders. There are a few small holes and snags in our window screens, which in years past would’ve driven me to a great deal of anxiety because they’re perfect size for mosquitoes to slip in. This year it makes no difference. And it goes beyond mosquitoes. At my family’s annual Fourth of July barbecue, where we eat outside in good weather, we’re often troubled by yellowjackets and such. Because one of my nephews has a particular aversion to them, this year I got a heavy-duty yellowjacket trap and deployed it strategically. We had no takers this year and by the end of the barbecue the trap was empty. I can’t recall the last time I found a smashed bug on the windshield of my car. When I had my Jeep Wrangler—which I sold in 2022—smashed insects were such a common sight that I barely paid them any attention. The world now seems curiously bug-free. In my childhood, which is where I developed my severe aversion to mosquitoes, I would’ve thought this would be a blissful and idyllic future.
