Through the window screen from outside I'm hearing a constant buzz – electricity, energy, synergy – a harmonious and noxious hum. Maybe the phone lines are buzzing from the summer heat.
The buzzing stops.
Minutes later it starts again, no change in sound or frequency.
I go back to my seat at my laptop to focus all my attention on translating French into English.
There's a flicker noise at the window screen and the hum of electricity becomes stronger, louder, unbeatable.
I look towards the window and something has landed on it – it appears to be a small bird. Upon closer inspection I realize the source of the buzz. It's a large flying bug, not a katydid or a cockroach, but maybe the size of a stag beetle. It has the body of a large beetle with the wings of a butterfly. A cicada.
Their lifespan is only 1 week – I walk around town and see their dead bodies lying on the sidewalks. What is their cry that I heard? A call to others? Is their short-lived life going to be expended? A last word? Distress signal?
Welcome to summer (bug season) in Japan and now the end of the cicada.
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