The Cricket Story

So if you're here because you're my friend on myspace, you probably saw my bulletin earlier about hearing a cricket in my apartment and scrambling up on the couch.

I have a major problem with crickets. I can't stand them. I'm fine until they're in my house actually. It's not the sound they make, it's a past experience. So here ya go...

When I was in junior high I was part of our church choir. And every spring we would go on "choir tour" where we went to a few other churches in California and did our performance for them. It was a normal thing for members of the congregation to let two or three of us stay at their house for the night before we left the next day.

Well, this particular trip we made a stop up in Oregon. And I stayed with two of my girlfriends at an elderly woman's house after that performance. She seemed weird already. Then throw in her small annoying dog. Who pooped in the bathtub. Apparently all the time. And it didn't get cleaned. There went our showers...

The three of us were sitting around talking, debating who would sleep on the sofa bed or if all three of us could fit... and we saw a cricket crawling across the floor. One of us killed it (I actually think it was me) and we all eyed the floor for a while. Pretty soon we started seeing more. Over in the corner behind the chair, against the wall... and we were freaked. There were a lot. Then the old lady comes in to tell us good night. And our conversation went something like this...

C: Ummm... there are like, a lot of crickets in here.
Old lady: Oh yes there are. (like this is totally normal)
C: Like, a lot.
Old lady: Well in China this would be called a happy house. (still like this is normal)
C: Oh, well, ummm...
Old Lady: Crickets are good luck in China. This would be a happy house. Good night.

And she totally walked away.

We were freaked. If it had been the days of cell phones I would have called one of our adults right there and demanded they pick us up. Obviously we all decided that the sofa bed would fit all three of us. And then we were too scared to get up and even brush our teeth or use the bathroom...

Most. Horrible. Night. Ever.

We told our story several times the next day. And I have obviously told it many times since then.

And that's why crickets horrify me.