It was in the wee hours of the morning on the first day in Kuala Lipis. I was laying on the floor on my sleeping pad dozing off when I feel this little tickle on my arm. It was faint brush on my arm, so I wasn’t very concerned. I didn’t move. I figured it was a tiny bug or something. I was tired and didn’t have the energy or desire to move. Then I felt it again. That’s when I said, “OK this might be something serious.”
My arms were stretched above my head, they were crossed and I was laying on my stomach. So I lifted my head up to see what was tickling my arm.
The room where we were sleeping was small and it was dark, but the morning light was coming through the cracks of the back door. My eyes had been adjusted to the darkness so I could see pretty clearly.
I lifted up my head and saw the thing that woke me up from my slumber. It was a dark shadow about the size of my thumb.
Adrenaline kicked in as I shot up to my knees. Cockroach! The poor thing probably didn’t know what happened. One minute he was just crawling along and the next minute he was flung back towards the wall.
I did not scream. I was very calm. I sat there for a moment getting my bearings and contemplating my next move. In the rush of it all when I was trying to get away from the bug my sweater (which I was using as a pillow) ended up in a heap next to the wall as well.
I had the feeling my little friend was still somewhere beneath it for I had not seen him scurry away.
I knew what had to be done. I would have to be brave and face this little creature once again. Being in the dark I knew he had the advantage. If only I could find my headlamp and use the beam of light to blind him. Drats, it was in the other room. I would have to go into this battle unarmed.
I slowly reached over and grabbed the hood of my Green bay Packers hoodie. I held my breath and in one swift motion I lifted it up. Nothing. The air I had been holding in my lungs rushed out. I knew he had to be underneath my sweater so I was waiting for a surprise attack. None came.
I gave the sweater a little shake. Perhaps he was laying in the fold of the fabric. Indeed!! As soon as I shook it he fell to the ground. We were once again face to face.
His little antennas were moving rapidly. I bet he could smell my fear! I was terrified. It is funny how such a tiny creature could bring so much fear. After his hiding place was discovered he looked at me for a moment and then headed off in the other direction. I sat there perplexed. I guess he wasn’t out for blood.
I sat there and watched him go. He headed for my backpack. I detoured him. (I didn’t want no cockroach rummaging through my stuff!) He then scurried off toward a pile of miscellaneous stuff. The war was finished. I guess it wasn’t really much of a war. More of an encounter. I misunderstood encounter perhaps. No harm was done, we simply walk away with a deeper understanding for each other.
Maybe I have been judging cockroaches to harshly. There just little bugs, that is it. They might not be the prettiest, but there just a bug. He didn’t want to hurt me, just snuck up on me is all. I felt safe turning my back on him. I laid back down. I had no idea what time it was, and I was still a little sleepy.
Little did I know that it wasn’t over.
I lay there for what seemed like five minutes. I was in that floating place right about to drift off to sleep. That is when attack number 2 happened.
I shared the room with other two teammates. Shelley, who was directly next to me with her sleeping pad parallel to mine and Fiona who was perpendicular to us. It started out with both Shelley and I with our heads at one end. Sometime during the night, I woke in a sweat. Our room did not have a fan to cool the muggy humid air.
I flipped so my head would be at the other end of my sleeping pad. It was the opening to a hallway which at the other end of that hallway was another room where the blades of a fan could be heard. In desperation I thought that perhaps I would catch some of moving air from the fan. My theology was good, but I felt no breeze.
I was about to fall asleep when I heard a noise behind me. I figured it was Shelley stirring in her sleep……….
The events that occurred next can only be understood through the eyes of my teammate and friend Shelley Sparling.
Check out her blog: www.shelleysparling.theworldrace.org (A Malaysian Wake up call: Part 2)
