As I was sitting at the table mildly yelping in pain and clutching my shoulder where a vengeful yellowjacket had just stung me twice, my husband was busy looking up remedies on his smartphone. We were packing the car to leave the log cabin we’d been renting for a week with my family on the outskirts of Asheville, NC when I was stung. A wasp had easily sneaked in through the front door as we were going in and out loading luggage into the minivan. Randy tried to shoo it out, whereupon it must have signaled (he discovered online) to his friends to come rescue him or at least inflict harm on his attackers. So suddenly I was stung. My daughter was stroking my hand. She made me a get well card within moments of the sting. My mom, aunt, and cousin all looked for baking soda to mix with water and apply to the sting site. There was none to be found. They also looked for a stinger to remove, but apparently wasps (of which the yellowjacket is just one variety) do not leave their stingers in place, nor do they die after stinging, as bees do. Other remedies Randy read about: toothpaste, which my mom produced and someone rubbed on me. Cortisone, which we always have on hand because Zoe has always been particularly tasty to all forms of insect life. The toothpaste and cortisone didn’t seem to do much. Ice was applied, and at least distracted me for a while. He also read about the possible healing powers of aloe, crushed fresh basil, mud, and chewed-up tobacco. We didn’t have any of these on hand. I opted for ice and tylenol and was relegated to the back seat for the first leg of the trip, instead of driving. We stopped for lunch and a drugstore where we found some aloe-based medication for wasp and other nasty stings. We also got some antiseptic to clean the sites (better late than never, right?). Randy read that you’re supposed to get a tetanus shot if stung by a wasp. Luckily I had just had one last week. Coincidence? Nurse Randy cleaned and medicated my arm in the parking lot of Sonic in Pulaski, Virginia, and I got to sit in the front seat for the rest of the ride, although I still wasn’t allowed to drive. Fortunately my arm is all better now. I was thankful that the creature didn’t get Zoe. I would have been less calm. It wasn’t pretty. But now we know what to do.