Jellybean Massacre

It is a known truth that the life of a missionary must, by its nature, require some sacrifices. We have come to learn this, but still sometimes you can be caught off guard by the sheer magnitude of the sacrifices asked of us. And this was the case yesterday...

Growing up, my parents would fill the fake easter grass of our baskets with an assortment of goodies, but as we got older, they realized there were only three things that any of the kids really cared about with any significant ardor. Cadbury Mini-eggs, Reese's Peanut-butter eggs, and Starburst jellybeans. And so, from them on, a package of each was placed in each basket, which really simplified things, though it took away the pleasure of searching your Easter grass diligently, and maybe finding a random bean from the year prior.

In a generous effort, my parents decided to send these three valuables with some visiting friends to us here in Kenya, so that living in rural Kenya would be no excuse for not celebrating Easter properly. We were particularly excited about the jellybeans, which are apparently not a holiday staple around here.

And then, disaster. I opened our cupboard yesterday to find the shelf with the candy playing host to more-than-the-usual number of ants. I feared for the worst, and removed each bag, inspecting it closely. I was shocked to discover that the Starburst jellybeans had the most ants on it, despite never being opened. However, there was a tiny hole on the side.

Thinking that I could scare a few ants away and salvage the beans (a few ants not being a reason to lose some good jellybeans here in Kenya), I opened the bag and poured the contents on the countertop. In addition to the beans, at least 100 ants started crawling over the counter. I had to act fast. This was no time for compassion. I grabbed the can of Doom and started spraying, killing all the ants, but the beans suffered from the crossfire, which may have been just as well.

Later, in attempts to console and minimize the chance of developing PTSD, it was suggested that I should have taken a photo of the carnage. Of course, we are not afraid of graphic photos on this blog, such as Jason's worm surgeries and almost anything in John's OR, but we have to draw the line somewhere, in the name of some baseline propriety. However, I did commission Anna to recreate the scene with an artist's touch, and I display the results here below.