Aug 24, 2005

Vermin

Before I moved to North Carolina, I had this vague idea of there being cockroaches running rampant. I have lived in my apartment since I moved here, and in my three plus years there, I've only seen about two or three cockroaches. They seem to crawl out of whereever they live to die on my bathroom floor.

So, the other day, when I heard some rustling sounds coming from my bathroom, I assumed that maybe I'd have to battle an actual live roach. I avoided the bathroom for a while, but finally I had to go. That's when I saw The Evidence. The Evidence that I was sharing my apartment with something with teeth. Little teeth that nibble on things. Although, the fact that the little nibbly teeth had chosen to eat some Caress soap makes me think that at least the creature is hygiene-conscious.

Even after The Evidence, I decided to pretend to myself that it was an isolated, one-time incident, and the creature would get over its taste for soap and move next door.

But yesterday, when I was pulling out my garbage can to dispose of my coffee grounds, there It was. My brain couldn't at first process the large fuzzy gray thing perched on the edge of my trash can. I thought 'I don't remember throwing away any yarn.' Then, it moved. And I screamed.

If you'd asked me before yesterday what I would do if I saw a rat in my apartment, I don't think I'd have said that I would scream.

But I did.

Like a little girl.

A quick call to my apartment manager (landlord, I guess is the right term) and the exterminators played a little visit. Now I have this little black box under my sink. I don't know what it is supposed to do. I just don't want to see the rat again.

Oh, yeah. And when I got up this morning, there was a cockroach laying upside down on my bathroom floor. It was still alive, so I covered it with an upside down cup.

But I didn't scream.

6 comments:

Melissa said...

What does covering a roach with an upside down cup do? Suffocate it?

Step on it! I stepped on a roach once, it made a "crunch" noise. I almost passed out. But at least I knew I killed it!

If I become a complete failure, and do nothing with my life, I know that at one point in my life, I made sure there was one less roach on this here planet. And for that I will die happy.

I'm not gonna comment on the rat, because it scares me.

Brenna said...

Did I mention that the roach was three inches long? I don't want to clean up that squishy mess. It will die eventually, and I'll sweep it up and toss it!

Kris said...

Rats and roaches? Get out of there NOW! Are you sure it wasn't a mouse? If you have rats and roaches in your apartment you need to come back to Oregon right away....forget about school!

Brenna said...

So you want I should just quit med school?

Melissa said...

Are dealing with 3 inch roaches and rats worth taking care of sickly people!?!?

Gretchen said...

Brenna - well, I can relate to the cockroach story. Did I ever tell you about my cockroahes. Well I've had two, one of them scarred me so much I locked myself in my bedroom and called every person I knew within 20 miles and begged for help. The second one was the size of my cell phone. My flip phone. It was huge, on the door fram to my bathroom. With that one, I screamed, SCREAMED, and it was after midnight so I couldn't call anyone. It took me 30 minutes and I broke out in a cold sweat but I smashed that cockroach dead with the dustpan side of my broom. I was cleaning up after that for a few days (vacuming and sanitizing walls). My advice...buy some Raid and do what my sister taught me, drown the nasty thing.