I emerged from my bed like Dracula - arms crossed over my chest, body unmoving, feet planted on the bed and serving as an axis of rotation. Only when completely vertical did I open my eyes. Since my mattress is now on the floor, thanks to my recent poverty and a certain friend who really needed her bed frame back (the bitch!!!), I literally stepped out of bed.
The vibrations created by my first footsteps apparently also woke up one of our resident house centipedes, though he did more of a snake-like wiggle than a Dracula maneuver. He, with all his gross little legs and his silvery body and his side-to-side undulations, shot out from under AJ's bureau and charged at me, full-speed. EM, good for nothing, watched on as if she were in a 3D movie - batting at the bug while remaining several feet away from it.
I let out a shriek, grabbed the nearest crossword puzzle (thankfully I never throw them out unless they're 100% finished and have 30 at my disposal) and slammed it down on Mr. Pedie. I slowly lifted the paper and BAM, Mr. Pedie went dashing back toward the bureau, hoping to escape with at least 99 limbs still intact. But I was too quick for him, in my adrenaline-induced panic, and caught him again, making sure to slam on every square inch of the newspaper.
After ensuring Mr. Pedie's death (HA! I almost wrote "full death" which is redundant, eh?) I left him, exposed, on the floor while I got dressed. No sense in making two trips to the bathroom, right?
It was then that EM decided to take more than just a lazy swat's interest in Mr. Pedie. She circled the smooshed carcass and just as she was about to give him a little nibble, I realized that I didn't want my cat breathing centipede breath on me. So I swatted her lightly with my shirt.
Apparently, EM was also pretty terrified of Mr. Pedie, because when the the shirt touched her, that little stinker jumped straight up in the air - so high that I could have pet her without bending over (and I'm tall for a woman).
At some point during all of this, AJ looked up groggily from his pillow and asked me what was going on.
He missed a lot of excitement, but he got to sleep until seven, lucky bastard.
Photo from http://richard-seaman.com/
5 comments:
Coffee would almost be redundant after that episode.
And good morning to you. Not the way I would like to wake up either.
I HATE THOSE THINGS! We lived in a house that had those and they were HUGE. They don't die. I am shuddering thinking of it.
PS...they do eat other bugs though. Not a good enough reason to start naming them.
Blech...EM wanted all the reward without all the work of killing it! I just hope there's not more out there dancing around your room at night while you're sleeping!
ha, one of my cats does the startled jumping thing all the time. Last night he was sitting behind my laptop, looking at something, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED WHICH WOULD INDUCE STARTLEMENT and he jumped up like 3 feet in the air and almost pushed my laptop over the desk.
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