La Cucaracha

When I was a child taking piano lessons and was first aware of the song La Cucaracha, I had no idea to what it was referring.  It was just a peppy song with an interesting rhythm.  I did not know that translated into English, it was The Cockroach.  I also did not know what a cockroach was.  Growing up in the north, I had never seen a cockroach.  In that cold climate, I later learned that only people who did not keep a clean home had cockroaches.  They like garbage, and they seek out damp areas.

Decades later, I learned that a sweet elderly lady in our church had a cockroach infestation.  Her apartment was immaculate, but the apartment of someone in her building was not.  Cockroaches invaded her home from an adjacent too dirty apartment.  One of the ladies in the church took her out for an extended lunch time, while a group of us went into her apartment, spraying and vacuuming up dead cockroach bodies and droppings.  We hoped this would bring her at least temporary relief.

Later still, an acquaintance was planning to buy a used appliance and was concerned there might be cockroaches in it from the prior owner.  I talked with an appliance repairman, who told me the solution was quite simple.  Since it was winter and we were experiencing a spell of near zero Fahrenheit temperatures, the appliance should just be left outdoors in the garage or on a front porch for a few days.  The roaches would not survive, and it would then be safe to move the appliance indoors.

When one of my daughters moved to Texas, she called me one evening horrified, because there was a large cockroach in her apartment.  I could hear the sounds of her trying to squash it by hitting it with a running shoe.

Well…. now I live in Florida.  I know these nasty critters are endemic here. Earlier this week, I saw one about an inch long running across my kitchen countertop.  My husband came to the rescue and dispatched it.  He did this with a tissue.  I was looking for a book to hit it with.  I couldn’t bear the idea of the crunch I knew it would make.

I have checked around the cupboards and under the sink.  I have found no droppings or eggs, but I am now skittish.  I am hoping that cockroach was just a random fellow wandering through.

But, I have looked around the kitchen twice this morning, because I thought I heard the sound of something chewing, and La Cucaracha is playing in my head.