My husband sits in the backyard after a long day at work. The sun is hot. He shifts his chair into the shade. A light breeze swishes through the tree canopy overhead. A blue jay hops on the fence and twists its head to look at him before flying away again. A chipmunk ventures out and then dives into a hole behind a rock.

After forty-five minutes of peacefulness, the door slides open. I step outside. My husband watches as I walk across the yard, a thick and growing cloud following closely behind me. I sit in a chair next to him and the mosquitoes descend on both of us.