Brutal Beauty

The red wasp, like the hairless cat, is unabashedly nude.Like a molded plastic sculpture, it balanced on the leaf, flipped its narrow wings (one whole and one torn), and scanned the view below, first to the side, then to the front. It slid down the leaf to the one below before launching out across the mint, shuddering with the wings of butterflies sunning themselves.I, too, shuddered to think of a creature in its grasp and shook with pleasure at its beauty.