The gardener is the monster, preying on the mantis – nice.
I like the commentary style of this piece, it adds to the realism. I imagine this as a Better Homes and Gardens article promoting “safe gardening”. Or perhaps the complete opposite idea; an article in Bugs LIFE magazine, claiming that gardening is killing our insects!

@Sir Bic- haha, not sure about B H & G, but it is an interesting thought.

Thank you so much for participating. Also, I love your bio and avatar. I just purchased a Rosie The Riveter bike jersey so that when I’m out on the road there’s no question of who I am and what I believe :)

We humans are so arrogant sometimes. We don’t think about the other creatures that are sharing our space and how simple things like clearing a garden affects them. Of course, they don’t really respect our boundaries either.

Very true, smdasilva. And Nancy, I do love Rosie.

I like the twist, stargazer1960!
I find it a bit awkward that you use ‘removing’ twice in the second paragraph.
It’s ‘praying mantis’ rather than ‘preying’.
But these are quibbles over a nice piece.

@Sanglorian thanks for the comment. I fixed the spelling. On the farm where I grew up we always thought of them as “preying” instead of prayerful creatures.
I left the ‘removing’ because it is meant as a restating of the original. Again, thanks.