"愛"しています

Summary: Woke up under protective net to a swarm of hundreds of large cockroaches, about 1 inch or longer, crawling and flying chaotically in the bedroom. In another incident the toilet bowl was covered entirely with thousands of tiny harmless black ants.

It was probably in 1973 or 74 when these occurrences happened. I came home for vacation with my parents and family. I was given the room which my father had added to the old house while I was a young man, student and living with them. Most people in that country commonly sleep under a net, about 7x4x4 feet, as protection against insects. On my first night I woke up to hear some buzzing sound just outside the net. I already knew it was the sound of flying cockroaches. The ceiling lamp had a switch to which was attached a long pull cord which hanged down on the net and right beside the bed. In the darkness of the room, I carefully grabbed the pull cord under the net and turned on the lamp. My goodness ... a swarm of hundreds of large cockroaches, about one inch or longer, were chaotically crawling and flying outside the net, on the net and all over the room. Some were already crawling on my arm while I was reaching for the cord and some had already entered the net! Now one of the insects that creep me out is large cockroaches. These insects fly like brainless crazy idiots and land anywhere including a person's body and then crawl under your clothes. I don't even want to imagine this happening to me! Upon seeing this swarm of these pests, I ran like hell out of the net, and outside the room. I ended up in the driveway swatting off these pests that were already crawling on my arms and shirt and crushing them on the floor. I think I slept in my car if not in a motel that night. In the morning after this incident everybody saw the cockroaches which trapped themselves in the net and those I had crushed on the floor. I exchanged room with my younger brother during the rest of my vacation. He wasn't bothered even by one large cockroach.

My brother was the most previous occupant of that room and said he had never seen that kind of cockroach frolic. Also, the room had been rented out previously before and there had been no such complaints from the tenants. So I have no idea why me?

Another time, also during my visit there, I was about to use the toilet. As I entered the bathroom the toilet was covered entirely with thousands of tiny black ants. This is the ant species that inhabits homes. They are harmless and would feast on spills of sweet food such as syrups, candies, beverages, etc. I did my bathroom business somewhere else then came back in less than 3 minutes to check if I should spray them with insecticide. The swarm had gone, not a trace of one of them left. If this had been the normal migration of these ants, they would have moved on to their next site in orderly way, like a caravan or convoy and very slowly. I would have seen where they were going. But this swarm just disappeared without a trace within less than 3 minutes.