Bugs
4 am. Yvonne is really upset, her voice trembles. Out of my groggy sleep, I can hear her sobbing quietly. “What’s the matter?” I ask, knowing I’d be waiting for an answer. “Bugs,” she replied through her tears. “Turn the lights on,” I said, getting out of bed. 4 orange beetle-things were on the bed; three of them were still moving, and one of them was pulverised by her body weight.
“Aaaaaaah,” Yvonne screamed, jumping out of bed onto the floor. “Holy fuck!” I said shaking sleep and terror from my eyes. I told her to go downstairs, but she was frozen. I picked her up with both arms and carried her downstairs to the green set of sofas by the Christmas tree. “Stay here, I’ll be right back,” I said as I went back upstairs to deal with the critters.
There were now 6.
The night before she had felt one crawling on her. She was very upset, but didn’t think too much of it. But tonight was different: she’d been bitten not once, not twice, but three times. That was the last straw.
I grabbed some tissue paper from the bathroom and mopped up all the bugs I could find. After finishing those 6 orange bugs, 2 more appeared on the bed. They usually moved in pairs, single file. Where they mating? I don’t know. But they looked pretty gross. Bed bugs, I mused, thinking to myself that bed bugs were probably of a different colour, and perhaps smaller. I went to the bathroom to throw out the tissues, went back into the room, and saw three more; killed them.
I opened the linen closet quietly so as not to disturb the rest of the house. I pulled out two blankets and brought them downstairs to sleep on the two green sofas. EV gave me the bigger sofa to sleep on.
We finally dosed off, and were awakened by the family rising and preparing for the day. Needless to say I had a bad night as did EV. But such is the nature of the beast. Expecting the unexpected isn’t easy, but it must be taken light-heartedly and openmindedly. One must learn to navigate through terrible times, and come out ahead and on top, lest be swallowed in sorrow and overpowered by emotions.
Sorry to hear about those bugs. It reminds me of the cucarachas in Colombia. But I think they are different. Cucarachas sometimes appear in groups of two’s or more. Is this a common thing in Australia for this creatures to apperar on the bed. Is this because it is hot there right now? Joanne(Auntie Ding) told me that you had a bad night when I called but I am sorry I did not think it was really that bad! You still see them on the bed. What was the end of those bugs.
there aren’t any bugs anymore. We sleep soundly now. Thanks for writing mom. I read my comments all the time. Keep sending them
HEY! So did you guys tell the family about the bugs???? Is this normal? Wow I can’t believe EV was crying…must have freaked her right out!
that’s really gross….
I don’t think it is normal. They asked us why were sleeping on the couch downstairs. When we told them, Uncle but three of the bugs into tiny zip bags to determine their species, etc (what a scientist! lol)
She was very frightened. At least 3 days after, she didn’t want to sleep in that bed out of fear.