episode 1 - starship trooper in sampaloc...

dateline: between the hours of 11pm and 2am, night of june 16th, prudencio street, sampaloc, manila... there i was, 2nd fl0or of the h0use, on the phone with my hubby... feeling a bit under the weather, yet still managing to smile and giggle while talkin' with my boyfriend... while giving meg ryan's detoxification grotesque look in the movie "when a man loves a woman" a run for its money, i was taken aback by what seemed to be a small creature that bounced on the door where i was stationed. first thought that came to mind, "oh god! that was a small mouse..." that was my immediate reaction because i saw a small mouse scavenging the rim of the trash bin just across where i was sitting. and then, as i followed the creature's form settle down by the stairs, i was horrified by the truth that unfolded in front of my eyes! it wasn't a small mouse... it was something worse... it was a cockroach! i nearly shrieked like a little school girl while holding the phone receiver with my boyfriend, rhoger, on the other end. i immediately grabbed right slipper, while uttering the tongue-twister version of profanities that would make the pope's hair stand on end. i swung at the dirty little bastard. i hit it and got a pair of its wings detached. but still, it flew a few inches and landed near the trash bin. another rapid fire of modified swearing filled the general area. i was the sight of a mad man, while trying to pulverize that roach into smitherines... a few missed hits and a couple of bull's eye whacks, and there you go ladies and gentlemen... a dead roach. i knew the commotion would wake up my cousin whose room was on the other side of the door. she opened the door, and with a half-smile half-laugh expression, asked, "what are you doing?" i came back with, "i just killed a cockroach!" then she says, "i thought you said, 'though shall not kill'?" "but it's a flying cockroach! this is different! a flying cockroach is a different story!", was my reply... she smiled and giggled a bit, and was ab0ut to cl0se the door when she bid me good night. i said good night too, and then she asked me if i was done reading this month's issue of Cosmopolitan. i told her i just skimmed it, then turned to the direction of a familiar sound of small flapping insect wings. she handed me the Cosmo and i placed it on top of the fridge, then once again said, "good night"... all the while, rhoger was audio-witness. i told rhoger that the roach got my adrenaline pumping and my heart was beating so fast. just then, another roach appears, and the air was filled with the sound of profanity once more. i killed it with one whack. and i started to get the feeling there's more where that came from... and true enough, another 1 emerges from the steel drawer. then i blurted out, "they're coming out everywhere!", as i was still talking to rhoger at that time. i even had to put the receiver down a couple of times just to whack a cockroach on the wall. after quite a few roach manifestations, i finally said, "rhoger, can we put the phone down for now? the roaches are everywhere!" rhoger, being the understanding boyfriend that he is, thought it would be best to do so. he even told me to just "run" to my room. so we said goodbye, and i put the phone down... but something tells me i won't be able to rest just yet...