This is a story for Friday Fictioneers, http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com
She was a tiny woman from the hills of Italy, now wed to an Italian man in America, an arranged marriage.
Her grown unmarried sons had jobs in a nearby shop. Each left an empty lunchbox in the kitchen after work. My mom was visiting the immaculate home and saw a couple of roaches. She guessed where the roaches had come from. The shop must have been full of them.
The latest addition to the family was still a baby. Mom spoke no italian. “The roaches–bite the baby.” she told the woman, making hand motions. The woman went wild.
Musings on Life & Experience 
Biting roaches… That’s not good
LikeLike
I checked on that before I wrote the story and they have been known to bite, but the source said that there would have to be a lot of them most likely for that behavior to happen. Of course no one wants to really find out.
LikeLike
My first thought was (and still is), yuk!! Then I started thinking about roaches and fire and lighting and got quite a bit afield. 🙂 But I didn’t inhale! I promise. (But Bill did.)
janet
LikeLike
Lightening struck so close to our home when I was young that I could taste a chemical of some type from it in my mouth. We lived near tall trees and one was struck one time, but lightening never struck our home.
LikeLike
That’s ozone. You can taste and smell it around large electrical equipment, or anything making significant open sparks. It has a metallic taste and smell.
LikeLike
Thank you for the info. I wondered what it was. I never want to be any closer to lightening than that.
LikeLike
EW I’m picturing roaches crawling out of everything… skin crawling! Great story 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you.That was a clean house actually, so just a couple were spotted, but you can bet that little woman found a way to get rid of those in a hurry. Insects are in sewers and can come up through city sewer drains also. A city dweller has to be vigilant. In India the hotels keep moth balls on the drains.
LikeLike
The horror biting roaches.
LikeLike
I checked on this before I wrote the piece. My info source said that there have to be a lot of them before they bite. My mother wasn’t taking any chances.
LikeLike
I checked on this before I wrote the piece. Mom wasn’t taking any chances, but they usually bite, my source said, only when there are a lot of them.
LikeLike
Shivers.
LikeLike
I know how you feel. None of us like creepy crawlies. That’s why exterminators do such a thriving business.
LikeLike
I think we would all agree and call the exterminators.
LikeLike
i live in a third world country, when i see a cockroach, i grab my slipper and kill it on the spot. then i spray the spot with Lysol. lol doesn’t change the fact that they’re extremely yucky. i agree with Riya, great, skin-crawling tale. 🙂
LikeLike
I’m living in India and we have to get the exterminators to come every so often. I checked before writing this piece and my source said they usually only bite if there are a “lot” of them. My mother wasn’t taking any chances. She knew that woman would watch for them after that and probably find the source. In fact, my mother probably pointed out the source to her.
LikeLike
Yuk! Living in the UK I’ve never seen a cockroach in real life (there might be some around but not that I’ve ever seen), but they look pretty horrible on the TV. Not the sort of thing you’d want near a baby – it might traumatise the kid if nothing else!
LikeLike
People in the cities probably have more because there are insects in the sewers and they can come up through drains. I guess that old saying would be true in this instance. There’s no shame in having them, just in keeping them. I live in India with my husband who’s an Indian and we have to get the exterminators here every so often. They come in different sizes here. When I was growing up we lived surrounded by woods and you haven’t really seen a roach until you see a “wood roach.” They are “huge”. Every once in a while one would get in the house, although they preferred trees. We had to have the exterminators then too.
LikeLike
I don’t like the sound of that at all. I’m bad enough when I see a house spider!
LikeLike
I agree with the above posters–this definitely got my skin crawling! *shudder*
LikeLike
Growing up in Hawaii, cockroaches were like pets. (I jest, of course.) We even had flying cockroaches. So while I don’t cringe at the thought, I’m no longer use to seeing them since we live in a cooler climate, Washington State. However when I visit relatives in Hawaii, I again take roaches in stride.
LikeLike
Thank you for commenting on my story. We live in India and have screens, but it’s a tropical climate too and the doors and windows in this old building of flats don’t always seal things outside. We call the exterminator once in a while but it’s a continuing battle. In a way I’m glad we don’t live on the ground floor.
LikeLike
Dear Patricia,
Roach was my nickname in high school, but has nothing to do with any love for them. Yick. And to think of them biting? Double yick.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Thank you Rochelle for reading and commenting on my story. I don’t like them either. It was a story that came from my mother, was mainly true and involved a shop. I’ll try next time to write something less yucky. I like these stories that you and others write very much, both reading them and writing my own. Thank you again. Shalom to you also. Patricia
LikeLike
I had a friend named Roach too, but it had nothing to do with insects.
LikeLike
Neither did my nickname.
LikeLike
Great story. But if there are roaches around, then roaches are around even if the house is kept clean. As for baby gulping varieties, I’m not sure.
LikeLike
Thank you for reading and commmenting on my story. I did some mini resource on biting roaches and my source said that they will bite if there are a lot of them. My mother wasn’t taking any chances. I would guess that the fact that they’re around and keep invading even the cleanest of homes is the reason exterminators are kept busy.
LikeLike
Funny, there is another understanding to the story that all possibly including our multiple personalities author seem to have missed? I read roach as in the urban slang sense in relation to the sign in the picture which highlighted the empty lunch boxes. I was then looking for the hidden sense behind Granny’s bad English expression. 😀
Might explain Rochelle’s high school nick though : 420 etc? 😉
Tay.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=roach
LikeLike
Thank you for reading and commenting on my story. Actually, I doubt either my mother or that Italian lady would have understood the term “roach” as it’s now used to refer to marijuana. That story came from pre-WW II days. I know that dates me, but it’s a fact I can hardly escape. Concerning the empty lunch boxes, they would be heaven for a factory roach if there was any food left in them. My mother couldn’t speak Italian so used half words and half motions to try to get the idea across. It must have worked. I do the same here in India, using a few Indian words and some pointing, etc.
LikeLike
Those are nasty little disease carrying vermin. I’d be upset too.
LikeLike
I know. We’re living at present in India and exterminators do a thriving business here.
LikeLike
Ooh, nasty! I didn’t realise they had the potential to bite…
LikeLike
I looked it up and my source said that they usually only bite if there are a lot of them. I hope I never find out.
LikeLike
Ugh! Roaches! No wonder the poor woman went wild. Unique take on the prompt!
LikeLike
Thank you for reading and commenting on my story. I appreciate it. I’ll try to find something a bit more pleasant to write about next time.
LikeLike
Haha sure, but just so you know I loved this one too 🙂 it was fun and very different. Good job
LikeLike
Thanks so much. I thought about a story concerning a factory or shop and that incident came to mind. The “No Smoking” sign didn’t take my interest as much as just the idea of a shop and something connected to it.
LikeLike
I know, I didn’t want to write about smoking either. Besides, my mind was completely blank when I tried to put the sign into my story. Neat job anyway at handling the prompt 🙂
LikeLike
i love your theme of the story. so well laid out and yes, if i was the one who heard about the biting roaches, i would react just like your character.
LikeLike
Am I the only one who has been bitten by a cockroach and survived? And yes, they do fly. But give me a cockroach over a funnelweb any day. Good story to get such strong reactions, Patricia.
LikeLike
Thank you for reading my story and for your comments. I’ve seen different kinds of roaches here in India. The bugs here keep the exterminators busy. I’m not familiar with a funnelweb spider but when we lived in North Carolina there were brown recluse spiders we had to watch out for. I’m sure others have probably been bitten by a cockroach, but don’t talk about it. People don’t like to remember unpleasant things. It’s helpful to use those experiences if you’re a writer though. I haven’t been bitten by a cockroach, but I read they can damage clothing in a closet.
LikeLike
Haha wow biting roaches….good one
LikeLike
Thank you for reading my story and commenting. I researched that and found roaches do bite, but usually only if there are a lot of them. I hope I never experience it.
LikeLike
Oh, this brings my early childhood years back to me! I was born in post-war England, when housing was in short supply and our first family home was attached to a ‘working man’s club’ which had a cellar full of beer barrels of course. If we came home after dark and switched the light on, the entire floor would be heaving with what we called ‘black clocks’ which had swarmed through from the cellar next door. I would stand on the hearth and scream – I was only four! Here’s a link for a site about these critturs: http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/black-clock-beetle It’s no wonder I’m nuts! Your story made my skin creep. It could have been the start of a sci-fi movie as well. Ann
LikeLike
Thank you for reading my story and for your comment and the informational link. I can understand your feelings after the trama you suffered. I know what you mean about science fiction. The aliens sometimes look like bugs. I don’t think I could write a story like that.
LikeLike
The first summer we moved to this brand new house – we were sitting on the deck around midnight. All of the sudden – I’m not kidding – hundreds of roaches came out between the cracks in the deck boards. We ran for the house. Our new exterminator was there the next morning – and every month for a year. You don’t have to live in a third world country – the creepy crawlers are everywhere! I don’t even watch entomology shows –
LikeLike
Thank you for reading my story and commenting. You’re right, insects of all varieties are everywhere. It’s possible that new homes, if they are built on an area where there has been land filled in, or if it was a forested area, have many insects in the ground. A school where I once taught was built on a filled-in wetland. Termites ate away the first gym floor. Every so often the exterminator had to be called.
LikeLike