I, the Giant

 


I, the Giant


"Interesting choice of housing," I compliment them, but just in my head.

I'm not sure they will be able to understand me, you see, for I am a giant. I don't think most creatures understand Giantese (it is too loud with large letters, as you can see.) Even if they could understand me they wouldn't believe that I meant no harm with the comment. Speaking just makes them freeze and my shadow makes them scurry away.

Anyway, their hangout is quite curious to me. Instead of the wide open space of the floor which I realize can be daunting and full of perils (mostly giants like me), they have selected the quiet, closed transparency of  the clear handle to my Blender. While the logic may seem baffling (they are obviously easily spotted), I suppose in this way they can keep an eye on me. They have chosen the handle as their hideout and not the blade basin, which is smart, but how the devil did they get in there?

Ah, through a hole in the top of the handle, I see. Peculiar...maybe they feel safe in such an enclosed space. I haven't actually blended something in a while, which is good for the cockroaches. The only disruption is when I shake the handle like now trying to put Blender's cap on. (He's forever forgetting it, you see.) That's how I noticed they were there: a general scurrying up and down caught my eye. The scene reminds me of the chaos that ensues in some comical scenes of Charlie Caplin or Buster Keaton: shenanigans at ludicrous speed.

I wonder how the insects got there. Oh, now I remember! Mr. Blender had been lying upside down for a few days by the kitchen sink, trying to get the wet out of his system. Some cockroach kids hurried out from under it when I decided to put him back on his stand. Others may have climbed into the handle for safety. (Or is that where their nest had always been?)

I go into the bathroom and notice some more roach kids bustling about in the cabinet under the sink. I close my eyes and I can feel them crawling all over me even though I know they're still there in the cabinet.

Sigh. Isn't it silly for a giant to get the creeps from forms of life vastly smaller than she is? I close the cabinet door before the other giant seems them. Friends or foes I will not have their deaths on my conscience.



Photo: <a href="https://pixabay.com/es/users/hans-2/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=77069">Hans</a> en <a href="https://pixabay.com/es//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=77069">Pixabay</a>


Text: Kristen Mastromarchi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Souvenir

Image
Souvenir It is oh so luxurious to the touch, oh so enticing to the eyes. The suaveness of it, the mauve melding with the fuchsianess of it entrances me even now. There is only one time I remember wearing it, yet I still love it today. I love the feeling as I run my fingers over it, the connection to the totally foreign world from which it comes. Let me go back to the beginning, to the occasion I bought it for and maybe the only time I have and will wear it. We were in China, specifically in Daqing, the oil capital of the country. This was the most eye-opening, significant trip I've ever taken. The juxtaposition of things that boggled my mind (like the oil museum) with the incredible culture (like the Forbidden city in Beijing) still fascinates me.  We were in a very modern mall, trying to get the final details for my good friend's wedding. She had decided to have the wedding she had always wanted back in her homeland, and the dress code was pretty specific. (No bare shoulders o...
Read more

Me vs. the Sea

Image
Me vs. the Sea It happened last week. It was powerful and frightening–the stuff that stories are made out of. I was rolling in the sea. No, more like I was being pummeled by the sea. Liters and liters of it poured over my head, pouncing on me and then drawing back. I knew not to panic: hadn't I learned anything from lifeguard training?  Shouldn't I just stand up and put my feet on the sand? Instead, I reached my hand over my hand, instinctively searching for a sense of up because down had fallen away from me. I suddenly knew why people drown: it's easy to be sucked in by the power of the sea's pushes and the loss of a sense of direction. I needed to breathe. All of a sudden, the surface surfaced as my hand stuck out. I pushed up and gulped air before the sea rolled in again.  I staggered to my feet but another wave crashed into me, pulling me under again. This time the water was shallow enough for me to find my ground. The sea was ferocious. I just wanted to get out uns...
Read more

The After Carnival

Image
  The After Carnival The lights were still on, but the machinery mimicked the insides of houses at that moment: ground down to a halt, the gears in off position. Shadows in human forms moved the air in front of café's yet to open. The idea of lights–this time bright white–contrasted with the solid shapes of humans yet to enter into that waking space. A person pauses in an entrance with a hood over her head, a shadow looking toward the light. Her hands grab onto the shape of an ivory umbrella which was to be set up outside, Moments before, a bulldog had been bathing his head in a pool of light from another open door. The rest of him had been hunched over in the dark, concentrating on his first poo of the day. I assume his owner was waiting to collect it–although the protagonist of the scene was the dog...the human only a hazy sketch in the background. Even people waiting on the side of the road seemed painted into the morning–already anticipating it in the dimensions of a bus almost...
Read more