I don't know if you've ever seen a cockroach the size of your head, but it's freaky . . . at least, I think it would be really freaky. I've never seen one that big. But one day, just a couple weeks after moving into my apartment I saw a huge cockroach. I think it was a couple inches long, but with it's antennae it was GINORMOUS! It was running all over our counter top and finally hid under a plate. I ran to my room to grab something to hit it off the counter top, but by the time I was back it was gone. Talk about creepy! I had no clue where it was or if it took a nightly run across my face. It haunted me for the next couple weeks.
About 2-3 weeks into the school year (approximately 1.5–2 weeks after the aforementioned incident) I was up late one night trying to get some projects done. It was one of those nights where the more I did, the more I had to do. At about 10:00 I decided I needed a little break and went grocery shopping. I was back by about 10:45. When I walked into the kitchen I heard something. The cockroach was back! On the counter! I knew there was no way I could let it go or it would continue to terrorize me. The thing was, I was terrified of stepping on it, that kind of wasn't even an option seems how it was on the counter. After several calls home for moral support (thanks mom and dad) we'd formed a plan. I captured the thing under a bowl. If you're terrified, skip the picture below, but this is an actual picture of the cockroach.
That was a great victory. Finally I knew where the cockroach was and where it was going to stay. I very carefully slid the bowl and roach onto a flat cookie sheet. I was all set to throw the thing into the toilet when suddenly I realized some cockroaches fly! I hadn't yet seen this guy try and spread his wings, but I'd hate to go through all that work only to have him bounce off the toilet water and into my face before escaping me. That probably would have made me cry . . . and scrub my face with some really harsh soap . . . and maybe a pumice stone or something. So, after another couple calls home I got an even bigger bowl and poured a bunch of oil in it. Then, with all the bravery I could muster, I poised the cockroach trap over the oil and . . . the cockroach started running like crazy! It ran toward my hand and it took every ounce of logical thinking to remember that it wasn't actually touching my hand. There was a glass bowl between us. I summoned a couple more ounces of bravery and removed the cockroach and let the bowl dropped. I decided there wasn't enough oil in the bottom of the bowl, so I added another inch just to be sure and then ran out of the room, hoping the roach would leave his perch at the top of the bowl before he discovered some mutant power like acid burning saliva. Finally I went back to see that the oil had done it's job, the cockroach was floating. I promptly ran to the bathroom, dumped him down the toilet, and flushed. 7 times.
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