Feb 21 Two nights in a row, a cockroach has appeared, happy-go-lucky, just dangling his antennae out on top of my mirror above the sink. The first time I saw him, I swatted at him with my lime green fly swatter. I could tell I just knocked him off his perch and didn’t kill him. But when I saw him in exactly the same place the next day – at the right-hand edge, facing north, just like before - I couldn’t believe it. Twiddling his little scrawny hands as if coating himself with sun tan lotion on a glorious day at the beach. I swatted him again, but I know I just knocked him over. For a second, I got really mad at this obnoxious cockroach, who wouldn’t go away, dodging my swats time and again. Then, as I was walking back to the living room, I realized that that little critter out there is my new roommate. Suddenly my feelings changed. I found myself looking for him in his regular spot when I brushed my teeth to go to bed. If I don’t see him tomorrow when I get home from work, I migh...
Hyper-focus and Chaos: Absurd Short Stories