Ants, Naps and Kidnapping
What a strange day. Mostly it was boring, but the good kind of boring. I woke up late, showered in Robin’s bathroom again, fell back asleep, thought about going to church then didn’t. Then checked my email. Received this from Rachel:
Hooked up with Ali, we walked around and I was feeling really good -- like, I like this place, I know my way around this place, I feel safe here, etc. We went to several bookshops, the travel company, etc. Then on 7th Calle, which is one block from the parque central, we run into two of her friends from school, and are chatting with them on the sidewalk. I am not really paying attention, and don´t immediately notice the black tinted window Land Rover parked in the center of the one lane street. Then, a dude bumps my shoulder, and I was annoyed, and turned around. The bump came from 5 men carrying 1 man who was kicking and flailing, towards the Land Rover, another man was running ahead telling them to hurry up, he opened the back door, they throw the guy in, climb in and speed off so fast the tires squeal. Needless to say, we are really freaking rattled. People have stopped on the streets to watch, come out of shops, but no one says anything about it. Ali´s friends walk down to the next shop and tell the shopkeeper what has happened and they´re like, ¨What do you want us to do about it.¨ Another of the girls has the license plate number and a few minutes later the police drive by. One of the girls flags them down, they say, Come to the station with us, we decline, but she gives them the license number.
So we´ve just publicly gotten the cops involved on the same street the incident occurred on. At this point I want to cut and dye my hair.
The whole thing just smacked of Rachel. Trust it to happen to her. Of all people, I’ve never know one for such a talent as getting involved in messy international incidents.
So for a brief moment there I was firing off emails for her to catch the next bus back to Antigua and never mind the fare, we’d hawk our ipods to pay it. I calmed down a bit, but was still anxious for her safety. After a lot of back and forth, we decided that she’d stay the week then come to Antigua for the weekend, instead of me going there. Suits me. And if in the meantime she’s gunned down on the street, I’ll just go blithely to hell and be perfectly understanding with my lot.
Talked to mom and dad and henry today. Everything seems to be going normally in the Franklin. Mom is the same, so is dad. It’s good to know. Henry says he’s fine, except for a little bit of the Guate crud. Stephen is on the losing end though, as he’s still not able to be more than ten feet from a bathroom. I’m not sure what I did correctly this trip, but whatever it is, it’s working. I’m happy and healthy, thank the lord.
Speaking of, I’ve decided that my good intentions only end up hurting others, especially if those others are small with six legs. I came home the other night and saw a large black ant walking in circles on my floor. I thought, hmm, how’d you get up here? But I didn’t squash him, he was too big and looked like an animal. Plus, I’ve always liked ants. They’re very industrious and look like they might speak with a British accent, or at least stop and wave to the Queen if she drove by. Anyway, one ant wasn’t a big deal and I said goodnight and went to sleep.
This evening I walked in to my room to see four large ants (large as in almost an inch long) and one small ant walking in circles in my room. It’s very odd the way they walked, since usually ants walk with such purpose. But regardless, four ants are different than one, so I shooed them out the door and down the hallway using a 2x3 spanish word notecard, hoping they’d find their way out the side door onto the balcony. Then, and here the idiocy begins, I went downstairs and told Robin about my new friends who were lost. And she handed me a can of Raid saying she’d had an ant problem and this had stopped it. So I took the Raid and went back upstairs. I made a Raid line across my bedroom door, to stop them from returning to my room, and across my bathroom door, to stop them from from flanking me. Then I made one across the open window, sort of half on the sill and half in the ether, more as a deterrent to their buddies than anything. Then I went back downstairs, talked with Robin for a moment and then returned to my bedroom. Only to find four quivering bodies jerking across my floor in confused and painful spasms. I was horrified. As it turns out, Raid is not an invisible fence as I’d thought, but more like a grossly horrific poison that attracts ants, gets trapped on their feet and shuts down their nervous system.
I watched them for a moment, fascinated at my mass murder...then - as I write this, ant number 6 has just spasmed onto my floor. How he made it in, I don’t know, but the poison has attacked and now I’m watching him , oh god, it’s too horrible. - I just squished him with a napkin. For a moment I tried to gently pick him up to throw him out the window, as I did with numbers 4 and 5. But then I thought, the fall will probably kill him, and who knows what passing through the Raid ether will do to his lungs. Better to be squished in a napkin.
I hope I don’t have to keep doing this. I love ants. But I don’t want to be eaten by them. Especially since they are one inch long, have pinchers, and are probably very angry at me now.
Hooked up with Ali, we walked around and I was feeling really good -- like, I like this place, I know my way around this place, I feel safe here, etc. We went to several bookshops, the travel company, etc. Then on 7th Calle, which is one block from the parque central, we run into two of her friends from school, and are chatting with them on the sidewalk. I am not really paying attention, and don´t immediately notice the black tinted window Land Rover parked in the center of the one lane street. Then, a dude bumps my shoulder, and I was annoyed, and turned around. The bump came from 5 men carrying 1 man who was kicking and flailing, towards the Land Rover, another man was running ahead telling them to hurry up, he opened the back door, they throw the guy in, climb in and speed off so fast the tires squeal. Needless to say, we are really freaking rattled. People have stopped on the streets to watch, come out of shops, but no one says anything about it. Ali´s friends walk down to the next shop and tell the shopkeeper what has happened and they´re like, ¨What do you want us to do about it.¨ Another of the girls has the license plate number and a few minutes later the police drive by. One of the girls flags them down, they say, Come to the station with us, we decline, but she gives them the license number.
So we´ve just publicly gotten the cops involved on the same street the incident occurred on. At this point I want to cut and dye my hair.
The whole thing just smacked of Rachel. Trust it to happen to her. Of all people, I’ve never know one for such a talent as getting involved in messy international incidents.
So for a brief moment there I was firing off emails for her to catch the next bus back to Antigua and never mind the fare, we’d hawk our ipods to pay it. I calmed down a bit, but was still anxious for her safety. After a lot of back and forth, we decided that she’d stay the week then come to Antigua for the weekend, instead of me going there. Suits me. And if in the meantime she’s gunned down on the street, I’ll just go blithely to hell and be perfectly understanding with my lot.
Talked to mom and dad and henry today. Everything seems to be going normally in the Franklin. Mom is the same, so is dad. It’s good to know. Henry says he’s fine, except for a little bit of the Guate crud. Stephen is on the losing end though, as he’s still not able to be more than ten feet from a bathroom. I’m not sure what I did correctly this trip, but whatever it is, it’s working. I’m happy and healthy, thank the lord.
Speaking of, I’ve decided that my good intentions only end up hurting others, especially if those others are small with six legs. I came home the other night and saw a large black ant walking in circles on my floor. I thought, hmm, how’d you get up here? But I didn’t squash him, he was too big and looked like an animal. Plus, I’ve always liked ants. They’re very industrious and look like they might speak with a British accent, or at least stop and wave to the Queen if she drove by. Anyway, one ant wasn’t a big deal and I said goodnight and went to sleep.
This evening I walked in to my room to see four large ants (large as in almost an inch long) and one small ant walking in circles in my room. It’s very odd the way they walked, since usually ants walk with such purpose. But regardless, four ants are different than one, so I shooed them out the door and down the hallway using a 2x3 spanish word notecard, hoping they’d find their way out the side door onto the balcony. Then, and here the idiocy begins, I went downstairs and told Robin about my new friends who were lost. And she handed me a can of Raid saying she’d had an ant problem and this had stopped it. So I took the Raid and went back upstairs. I made a Raid line across my bedroom door, to stop them from returning to my room, and across my bathroom door, to stop them from from flanking me. Then I made one across the open window, sort of half on the sill and half in the ether, more as a deterrent to their buddies than anything. Then I went back downstairs, talked with Robin for a moment and then returned to my bedroom. Only to find four quivering bodies jerking across my floor in confused and painful spasms. I was horrified. As it turns out, Raid is not an invisible fence as I’d thought, but more like a grossly horrific poison that attracts ants, gets trapped on their feet and shuts down their nervous system.
I watched them for a moment, fascinated at my mass murder...then - as I write this, ant number 6 has just spasmed onto my floor. How he made it in, I don’t know, but the poison has attacked and now I’m watching him , oh god, it’s too horrible. - I just squished him with a napkin. For a moment I tried to gently pick him up to throw him out the window, as I did with numbers 4 and 5. But then I thought, the fall will probably kill him, and who knows what passing through the Raid ether will do to his lungs. Better to be squished in a napkin.
I hope I don’t have to keep doing this. I love ants. But I don’t want to be eaten by them. Especially since they are one inch long, have pinchers, and are probably very angry at me now.
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