Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At ALL

There’s a cricket in here hanging out by my shoe, just chilling, and this presents a dilemma. Yes, it does, because, even though I used to love the sound of crickets when I camped out a million years ago and liked to hear them when I slept with the window open (before this was declared suicidal), now the sound of a lone cricket in my room at night keeps me awake. When I first hear it, a feeling of dread comes over me. “Oh, no! Please don’t let it be inside!” But, invariably, it is inside and just when you think it’s quieted down and you start to drift off, there it goes again, even louder. And try finding it in the middle of the night! There’s a fun activity! So, now that the cause of a sleepless night is in plain view, why don’t I just pick up a shoe and smash it? Ahh….the million dollar, somewhat embarrassing question! Because there’s a side of me, probably the crazy Louisiana side, that’s a little superstitious. I keep hearing that old admonishment in my head, “Don’t kill a cricket! Crickets are good luck!” And if they’re good luck, it surely follows that killing one is bad luck. Yep. Someone even gave me a brass cricket to keep on my fireplace….for good luck. I can see it from here, so smashing this live one seems counterproductive. I watch people fish with crickets and I cringe. Now, worms and minnows, I can do that, though the minnow thing is getting harder. They’re kinda cute and I like to name them, even though I don’t mind catching their larger cousins and eating them. I know, I know…..But, I digress. Catch the live cricket and put it outside, you say! Well, I’ve tried this already and have been frustratingly unsuccessful, my efforts resulting in spilled coffee and curse words. Still, I’m keeping my eye on it. I don’t want to let it out of my sight in case I decide to smash it after all. But, a solution to the problem just walked in! The cat has decided to eat the cricket, and I think this may be okay. I’m just gonna say this is okay, nature’s way and all that. In the meantime, I’m gonna go polish the brass cricket, for good luck….just in case.