Nature Can Be a Scary Place

Billy encounters lady bugs in the forest (a shrub along the property line). I wanted the lady bugs to be ambiguously dangerous. Perhaps they're peaceful, but their sheer numbers make them a little threatening.

Once as a kindergartener in the woods on an army base in New Jersey, I found myself all alone. As I was walking I looked down and realized I had stepped in some sort of rotting stump. It was overgrown with big flat mushrooms that I had disturbed, sending bugs scattering. It was so unexpected and I remember feeling panicked and temporarily paralyzed standing there. Of course, it was all completely harmless, but the experience really stuck with me.

I imagine Billy in a similar situation. Perhaps he crouches in the bush to watch one ladybug and then realizes there's another one, and another one, and a dozen more, and he begins to feel overwhelmed, even though they're harmless.