Suzi paused. She had no choice. Something was tugging her backwards.

“Stop! You cannot go out there in the daylight!”

Suzi turned to see a shiny black beetle clamping her back leg with a thin, sharp pincer. Between the pain of the vice grip on her leg and the fright from the loud sounds, Suzi was mad. She was so close to the light, to the “soon.”

“Let go of me NOW! Who are you? What are you? Why are you hurting me?” shouted Suzi.

Benjamin Bess Beetle jumped back, equally unused to loud noises. “I’m, I’m sorry, so sorry. I just did not want you to get hurt,” he whimpered. Before either Suzi or Benjamin could respond, a gruff, breathless voice whispered, “He’s right you know. You need to wait for the others.”

Suzi knew that voice. Sam, wheezing for breath, continued, “I have been racing after you since you left. I tried to warn you. You do not want to be outside before your brothers and sisters. Most every critter out there wants to eat you! Suzi, you must be patient. You have waited almost 17 years. Wait for one more month.”

Suzi looked from Sam to Benjamin to the light beyond the bark of the log. She pushed back from the noise, pushed away from the interfering insect. Suzi wanted to finish what she started. She wanted “soon.” She scrambled to the light.

Read Chapter 5 of Suzi Cicada.

Author Suzanne Holland is the Visitor Center Manager at Hidden Oaks Nature Center, which is home to lots and lots of cicadas!