In “Natural Selection” by Diana Reed, this week’s New Voices story, a small moment becomes a pathway for a much larger conversation. As the mother combs lice out of her daughter’s hair, she searches for a way to reassure her children—and herself. Comb through “Natural Selection” below!
She has read everything Wikipedia has to offer on the biology of the super louse. Those that invade today’s classrooms have evolved beyond the minor lice of her own childhood. Despite the claims on the over-the-counter treatments, the newly evolved “super louse” is resistant to their chemical ingredients, so the CDC recommends a time-honored approach: the nit comb.
The boy wields the new blue lice comb. It has two sets of tiny teeth and a bright light, like an undersea monster. He shines the light on his sister’s forehead. His mother and sister brush him away, and he jumps off the toilet seat to look for his alien ship, adrift somewhere in the living room.
The mother’s grip tightens on the girl’s shoulder. “Hold still,” she says. Her voice dips lower, trying to slide under the sound of the toilet flushing. “I can see another one of those little shits now,” she whispers.
Her daughter hears and hisses, “Mom! It’s just a bug.”
“Don’t move.” The mother pins the daughter’s hair to her head, then locates the sliver of movement beneath the strands. Her finger presses down, holds, grinds. She waits until she is sure she has squashed out its life. She removes her fingertip from the scalp and exalts to find the louse reduced to a smudge. She expends a full flush for this tiny creature, ignoring the water and energy waste. She is merciless. She’ll use chemical weapons, brute force, drowning, anything and everything at her disposal.
“It’s kind of cool, though,” the daughter is saying. “How they’ve survived? Even with all these chemicals trying to kill them off. Don’t you think, Mom?”
“Mmm.” She sprays her daughter’s hair, pulls the comb close against the scalp, inspects.
The girl tries again. Her scientific observations usually garner approval. “You know, like how some of them survived, even though the others didn’t? They’re, like, rezealient?”
The mother lets the mispronunciation go. She combs, pulls, rinses. She has read everything Wikipedia has to offer on the biology of the super louse. Those that invade today’s classrooms have evolved beyond the minor lice of her own childhood. Despite the claims on the over-the-counter treatments, the newly evolved “super louse” is resistant to their chemical ingredients, so the CDC recommends a time-honored approach: the nit comb.
