Did you know that centipedes are very hard to kill. I am not saying that I go around looking for some to kill. It's just that on two recent occasions it has been required of me to kill one. Let me tell you, I did not relish the task or take joy in completing it, but I deemed it necessary at the time.
The first time was last week when the kids pointed out what they called a "strange bug" by the back door. It was in a crack between the concrete porch and the outside wall of the house. My kids wanted to play with it, but I told them to stay away...far away. I couldn't very well have them playing with a centipede could I? I didn't think so. So, I set out to dispatch the poor unsuspecting creature.
I got a nice sharp stick and poked it several times with no apparent effect. It then ran out towards the onlooking children. I poked it several more times and still it kept moving...like the energizer bunny. Then I finally had to step on it several times before it took its last breath and stopped moving. Man, those things are tough. The kids cheered and wanted to see the remains. I then buried it in the garbage can.
The second time I had to dispatch one of those hideous creatures was last night. Our kitten, Jackie Chan, an orange tabby, loves to roam the house hunting bugs. He always manages to find something. Well, last night, I was fading off to sleep on the couch despite my best efforts to stay awake. My 12yr old daughter was watching some show on Nick when she called out that the kitten had found something and it "slithered" under the couch. I jumped up and turned the light on just in time to see the long and gruesome body of a centipede running across the carpet with the kitten in hot pursuit. I grabbed my wife's shoe and when it hit the tile floor of the kitchen I proceeded to hit. It took several hard wacks with the shoe to finally kill it. This time I had no cheering section...just a grossed out and relieved teenage daughter who will be forever traumatized from the incident.
One thing is for sure. I have come across more strange and different bugs here than when we were in Missouri, which people told me there were tons of bugs out there.
If you ever have to put a wandering centipede to sleep in your house, be prepared for a long and hard battle, unless you have some heavy weaponry.
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