Stingers

Here at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, the intersection of the continent's biggest watershed, it's hot. Steamy hot. I was worried that while off on vacation the garden would dry up, but nuh-uh. It's the Amazon. While trying to do a little pruning at 6 a.m. I was stung on the hand. I wondered what kind of tropical bug had invaded - maybe something big and green, with a curly tail? - but it turned out to be a plain Midwestern wasp. Waited for the rush of whatever these stings are supposed to bring to your head, but it was just a sting.

"Wasp" is the handle for Lizbeth Salander, currently the coolest woman in the world. It's funny to those of us who remember the old secondary meaning for "wasp" - an acronym for White Anglo Saxon Protestant, and kind of an emblem for the male power structure in America. Lizbeth's the polar opposite. Since it's in translation, I wonder if it's coincidence.

But there are no coincidences, right?