Recently I was outside enjoying the warm weather. I was wearing my swimming trunks and sunglasses, reading my favorite book, "Harry Pillbug and the Sorcerer's Slug," when O'Donata came flying by.

"Hi, P.Ray! Gosh, don't you think you're rushing the season a little?"

I replied, "I love warm spring weather, O'Donata. I intend to soak up every last ray of this beautiful day!"

Then the sun started to set. I said, "Oh well, almost time to pack up 'till tomorrow. Hope it's another sunny day…" But I was cut off by a loud slapping sound, followed by cries of "ouch!" I wondered, "What's going on, O'Donata?!?"

Just then Vito the wasp flew in and said, "I can tell you what's going on, P.Ray — mosquitoes are biting the poor Paper Garden Farmer!"

I couldn't believe it! "Mosquitoes? ALREADY? I thought those were summertime pests! Oh well, I was getting a little hungry anyway. Let's go give those nasty skeeters a mantis surprise!"

Vito, O'Donata, and I went to another part of the garden. "Vito, are you SURE this is where the mosquitoes were biting the Paper Garden Farmer?" I asked.

"Absolutely! He probably ran back inside. And that's awful — he said he still had lots of work to do in the garden!"

I heard some strange buzzing by the pond, so I said, "Let's check over there." When we got closer, we saw lots of little bugs flying over the water. "Darn — I'm gonna have to work for my dinner tonight!"

I jumped up and caught just a few bugs before I got tired. I said to O'Donata, "That's hard work! I'm not that good at catching bugs in the air. Hey — where's Vito?" He was nowhere to be found, but we heard him call from the other side of the pond…

"Over here, guys — come quickly!"

When we got there, Vito pointed to a small, broken down old house by the stream. "I think they're coming out of there, P.Ray!"

I said, "Hey, that's the old springhouse! And it sure looks scary! Are you sure they're in…in…there?!?" Just then a huge swarm of bugs came out of a hole in the roof! We ran and flew away as fast as we could!

A minute later I decided, "Let's check it out." I pushed the springhouse door open and saw hundreds of hanging beasts inside! "Vampires!" I screamed and slammed the door shut.

Then we heard a voice behind us say, "Only some of them."

We turned to see two friendly fish in the pond. I said, "Say WHAT?"

The fish answered, "Only FEMALE mosquitoes are vampires; they need blood to lay their eggs."

The other fish added, "But don't worry — they lay those eggs in water, and we'll eat all their tasty little larvae before they can turn into biting adults! There won't be any mosquitoes flying out of this pond!

I said, "Well if that's true, then who was biting the Paper Garden Farmer?!?"

The first fish replied, "Those were last year's mosquitoes!"

"And we'll make sure they're the last mosquitoes to bother the Farmer this year!" said the second fish.

Vito asked, "Won't others just fly in?"

The fish said, "Nope! Mosquitoes stay VERY close to where they were born so if you stop them from breeding in the spring, you get rid of your mosquito troubles for the whole summer!"

I was thrilled! "That's great! Our work is done!"

But O'Donata said, "I don't know, P.Ray. Those fish were here last year too, so where were the mosquitoes in the springhouse born? And… hey — where did Vito go now?"

We hadn't noticed that Vito was gone, but just then he flew back to us, saying, "Quick! Come with me!"

He took us over to an old tire filled with standing water…and hundreds of mosquito larvae. Then he said, "We're in big trouble, boys and girls. We need help!"

Later that night, I used the "owl signal" in the sky to get the attention of my predator partner. He flew in, saying "Hi, P.Ray! I saw your signal in the sky. How can I help?" I told him about the mosquito trouble we were having.

"I'm sorry, P.Ray," the owl said, "but mosquitoes are MUCH too small for me to catch. And the tire is too big for me to move and spill out the water. You'll just have to try to capture as many adults as you can. Good luck, my little friend!"

As he flew away, I said, "So that's it. Okay, I'll stay here and make sure no adult mosquitoes reach this tire — or leave the water inside it!" I worked as hard as I could, trying to catch mosquitoes like crazy, but there were just so many that I got tired before I could make a real difference!

O'Donata saw how exhausted I was and asked me, "P.RAY! Are you all right?!?"

A huge swarm of mosquitoes flew at us as I said, "You don't have t...to worry. They're not getting pat…I mean, past ME…"

Just then, two fast shapes flew through the swarm, and ate all the mosquitoes in seconds! It was amazing! When the shapes slowed down, we could see that they were two little brown bats!

"Is that IT?" the first bat asked.

The second bat added, "Boy — that was barely a snack! That old owl said there'd be lots of them!" Then both bats flew over to a tree and landed on the side of the trunk to rest.

I was astounded. "You're…you're…"

"BATS!" Vito finished my thought.

I asked, "And the owl sent you?"

The first bat replied, "He sure did!"

"He said you needed help with mosquitoes!!" the second bat added.

"We LOVE mosquitoes!" the first bat said happily.

The second bat asked us, "The owl also said that this was an organic garden and farm. Is that right?"

O'Donata, Vito, and I are proud that our garden is chemical-free, so we all yelled, "YES!" as loudly as we could. I think we surprised the bats with our enthusiasm!

The first bat said, "That's great!"

"Yes, we bats are VERY sensitive to pesticides and other chemicals, but organic farmers don't use chemicals, so we'll move here, where it's safe for us — and our family and friends — to live," said the second bat.

The first bat added, "In return for a safe home, we'll eat lots of bad bugs that damage crops. And we'll make sure your farmer doesn't get bitten!"

O'Donata wasn't quite sure what the bat meant. "Doesn't get bitten by mosquitoes, you mean…"

The bat replied, "Oh, c'mon, lady — we're insect eaters, NOT vampire bats. The kids out there know the difference, right, kids?" And then he gave a big wink to everyone!

I raised my hand and said, " I know!"

Vito piped up and said, "That's right - we saw the real vampires! Those nasty mosquitoes!"

Both bats smiled and said, "You mean those TASTY mosquitoes!"

I was happy to say, "I like your style! Welcome to the Paper Garden, you…you…you batty bug eaters, you!"

THE END

GLOSSARY WORDS:

Springhouse:
In the days before electricity and refrigerators, people would build little houses over streams or springs and keep their food inside. The coolness provided by the water would keep the food naturally chilled and help prevent it from spoiling.

Larva: A young, wingless, often worm-like form (like a grub or caterpillar) that hatches from the egg of many species of insects.


Text, Itchy Mike McGrath
Illustrations, Yasushi Fujimoto
Animation, Glenn Hughes