If They Looked Like Bunnies

The thing is probably creeping around my house right this very moment, trying out my sofa, exploring my cupboards and strolling past the bottles and jars in my kitchen.

It was 1.30am and all it took was one cockroach to throw me completely off balance. i was almost ready for bed when i saw it in the study. the moment i reached for the light it decided to take flight so i panicked and hurriedly shut the door.

i did contemplate summoning my courage to kill it, but it wasnt something i could have done alone. i thought about shutting the doors to the other rooms and going to bed, but there was no way i could have slept through the thought of sharing my apartment with a cockroach.

my wallet, phone, driving licence and everything else that was essential was in the room where the cockroach was, so going in was never an option.

i stood outside the closed door, running through a list of unappetizing choices. i've always had an inexplicable fear for cockroaches, and back home in singapore, all i had to do was scream for my father and he would always take care of things. last night was probably the farthest i felt from my family and i literally felt trapped in my own house.

so i did the only thing a person in my position would have done.

i grabbed the car keys and an umbrella and headed for ken's mom's.

yesterday was the start of the rainy season in okinawa and i had the headlights on high beam because the rain was so heavy i couldnt see a thing. funny what adrenaline does to a person. as i was driving it suddenly crossed my mind that i was driving without my international permit, and if i had gotten into an accident i would have had to tell the cops i was running away from a cockroach.

it was 3am when i reached his mom's apartment. she thought something terrible had happened, and when i explained the situation she laughed and tucked me into bed.

after a fitful night's sleep i proffered my sheepish apology and headed straight for the drugstore. i now have two huge cans of insecticide and a year's supply of bug-killing paraphernalia. the entire kit cost me close to 3,000 yen and i am praying that it all works. if i am lucky i wont need to kill it myself. if i had my wish it might just show up dead in the morning.

i can pretty much do most things on my own, but cockroaches just get to me every single time. to be honest, the idea of sky-diving is actually a lot more palatable than killing the bugger sitting at home right now.

if only they looked a little more like bunnies.