Roach!!!

30 May 2003, 20:25

Last summer we were pretty worried about getting cockroaches (in Japanese: gokiburi) in the apartment. We even went so far as to “bomb” the place (a can purchased from the local pharmacy that emits toxic smoke while you shut all the doors and windows and stay away for 5 hours). As a result, we only had a few little ones under the fridge and that was about it.

We bombed again this year, not 4 weeks ago. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard a rustling this morning whilst lying in bed, and looked up to see a cockroach TWO INCHES LONG crawling along the wall RIGHT BY MY HEAD!

The sound a cockroach makes is unusual – it is comparable to the rustling of a plastic bag, and in my dreamy state I thought perhaps there was a plastic bag at my side. You know, maybe I bought an onigiri rice ball or something from the local convenience store last night and lazily placed it by my bed. But a plastic bag that moves by itself?

In a single move I leapt from the futon, grabbed the roach spray from the kitchen and ploughed the cheeky bugger full of poison. Several layers of it. It looked kinda helpless, on its back, gasping for life. The Buddhist in me cried for sympathy, but all the while there was only one thing going through my head.

Die, die you bastard!!!

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