The Child of the Earth
Tonight, for the first time since I was a small child, I held a Jerusalem Cricket in my hand. It might seem like nothing... or maybe, for those of you who know what a Jerusalem Cricket is, it might make you a little squeemish. But for me it was a feeling that I cannot quite describe. You see, the first time I ever held a Jerusalem Cricket was when I was too young to remember it. My mom saw me playing with the insect and she nearly fainted because she thought that the Child of the Earth was deadly poisonous and could easily kill me with one bite. She took the insect away from me and killed it.
I don't remember any of this but it was a story she told many times. My mom always said that she could not understand why the Child of the Earth didn't bite me - especially since she had always heard that these insects had a deadly bite. So for most of my life I grew up thinking that this mysterious, nightmarish looking insect with an almost human looking face was dangerous. But I could never bring myself to kill one of them .. especially after watching one of my dogs sniff one of them and react to it as if it were another animal instead of an insect.
I've heard that some people actually have had nightmares after seeing a Jerusalem Cricket. I know that I used to get really shaken up by the mere thought of running across one while working in my yard. The insect became a sort of haunting symbol of fear to me because I knew nothing about it. To me it was simply the mysterious creature that people called the Child of the Earth. My mom used to tell me that people called it the Child of the Earth because its face looked like a baby's face. Well, I wouldn't say it actually looks like a baby's face but it does have a sort of human stare... I used to think it was so spooky the way a Child of the Earth seems to just stare at a person.
Well, I finally decided to learn a little bit about the Child of the Earth. I found out that the insect has another name - Jerusalem Cricket. These innocent creatures that used to scare me so much are really just crickets! They live underground and will only come out if they are driven out by water, heat, or drought .. or if they are dug out of their hiding places. They are not poisonous and they are more afraid of me than I could ever have been of them.
Well, I am no longer frightened of them but it has taken me a while to get to the point where I could hold one. Like a dark shadow brought out into the light, the Child of the Earth no longer haunts me.
It's kind of strange the way that this alien looking insect has been sort of a shadowy figure in the back of my life for so long... I guess the story my mom always told of me when I was such a small child sitting there holding and talking to this insect like it was one of my pets had a big effect on me. I'm glad that I found out about the insect while she was still alive... that I was able to tell her that they weren't poisonous.. that they are only crickets. I've actually become sort of fascinated by Jerusalem Crickets. Now, instead of getting scared when I run into one, I actually enjoy seeing them.
I also have several photographs of them. My favorite photo was taken with a digital camera in the hallway of my house just outside my bedroom door. It was just after midnight ... the first few moments of November 20...what would have been my mom's 53rd birthday. One minute the hallway was empty and the next minute there was a Child of the Earth just standing there. It didn't even run when I got my camera and took several photographs. After a few moments I got a plastic cup and scooped the insect up to take it outside where I thought it would be much safer. Funny thing.. that night, November 20, just before midnight another Child of the Earth appeared in the same exact spot in the hallway outside my bedroom door. It almost looked like the same one that had appeared in that same spot the night before. This time I scooped the insect up in the plastic cup and admired it for several minutes before finally deciding to take it outside to the same spot where I had released the other one. It's more than a little strange that these insects should appear in my hallway ... and on that particular day ... my mom's birthday...
Back to Reflections
