halyomorpha_halys tender_square i heard him shout “ohmigod!” after he closed the bathroom door and knew he’d spotted the stink bug in the tub. i noticed it last night, crawling along on the bathroom’s vent fan, when i was brushing my teeth and decided to leave it be. this morning, it had moved from the ceiling into the basin of the bath and was chilling there. it wasn’t bothering me, so i left it. “the bug’s not going to get you,” i assured him. “it’s been around since last night,” i called from the other side of the door. he granted the bug clemency while we ran to the grocery store to pick up ripe avocados needed for dinner later. after we returned home, he came up to me in the hallway and jokingly warned, “when it’s my time to go and stink in there,” he pointed at the bathroom, “i’m probably going to be getting rid of your stink friend.” “no! don’t do that!” he lowered his voice in case the bug was listening in, “but what if he gets me?” “he’s not going to get you! you’ll probably stink him out before he has the chance to do anything to you,” i laughed and we parted. he called from the bedroom, “well, how about you release him outside if you don’t want me to kill him?” “but it’s cold outside—what if he freezes?” i’m not generally this attached to bugs but stevie stinkbug wore his tactical armor and had slowly kicked in the walls of my insect-fearing heart. i heard him sigh. so i grabbed a tissue, went to the tub, and coaxed stevie to climb aboard the ss kleenex. i brought him to the porch and tried to release him onto a dried leaf; instead, he wanted to stick to my finger. i used my other hand to gently nudge him off, and i gave the tinniest pet to his brown back, gently, before turning back to head inside. 211127 what's it to you? who go blather from