A last-second rescue

As the mosquito Mmox approaches them, he knows he has to be careful. He’s heard that his brother-in-law Tomm died of food poisoning after feasting on a bloke wearing tracksuit bottoms and smoking cigarettes. This bloke, too, is said to have been accompanied by a rather skinny-legged girl. So Mmox buzzes quietly towards the pair and lands silently on the back of the lad’s neck, where, as experience has shown, the host’s defensive swats rarely land with any precision. He first sniffs around gently for a moment and then begins to bite very cautiously. Just then, he spots a shadow above him and, bang, a bony hand slams down just a hair’s breadth away from him. He’s got lucky, and Mmox is gone. It was the girl. She’s probably saved Mmox’s life.