The Roach

The other day when I came into our room, my roommate greeted me and said, "We have a friend." I peeked into the bathroom and saw a roach about the size of a small mouse - I'd say over an inch long, easy. I screamed and jumped about a foot in the air.

"What are we going to do?" I cried, ashamed of myself for being so girly. Small roaches are one thing, but this was the biggest I'd ever seen.

"We could step on it," my roommate suggested feebly, and I gave her a pained look.

"But the scrunch," I said. "And we'd never be able to wear those shoes again. Plus I'm meeting B. and the others in a minute, and I have to go to the bathroom."

My roommate shrugged.

"Okay, I'm going to abandon you for a minute and go buy roach spray," I decided. Then I ran down to the first floor and knocked on B's door, looking as though I were being pursued by assassins.

"Can you help me?" I demanded when he opened the door.

"Of course," he said.

"Can I use your bathroom?"

B. has many faults, but manners are not among them. He didn't even ask why, just agreed. In the interest of returning his courtesy, I returned the to its original position - it is a boys' room, after all.

What a polite fellow: he didn't ask for an explanation, but I felt I owed him one, so I explained about the roach, at which point he offered to kill it for me. I turned him down, though - I have my pride. We went to Fabao and I picked up a Y17 can of Raid.

I went back to my room and stepped inside. I felt a scrunch and looked down.

I had stepped on the roach.

I screamed and ran to the other side of the room. After a moment, I mustered up my courage and sprayed it with Raid until it stopped moving. Then, after several aborted attempts, I managed to scoop it up with a piece of paper and flush it down the toilet. Then I washed my shoe.

Two more weeks.