The New Kind of Flesh: "Settle in, give suck"

 

Settle in, give suck

Image of the Madonna and Child, the child nursing. It has settled in for the long haul. There is an ambivalence in medieval and Renaissance iconography as to whether the breast of the Madonna should be visible, and whether the Child should visibly be sucking at it. But it is an ambivalence, as opposed to a prohibition requiring violence if violated.

Or better, the tick that settles in on a hiker's ankles, settles in to give suck and receive the hiker's generous gift of blood and life, and giving in return whatever viral load it might have handy. We are all ticks.