a few minutes ago, my nieces and i were running around the house. they were shrieking like crazy while i was quietly scampering around the furniture, hiding and praying that i won't be its victim.

it's a damned flying cockroach!

i'm not really scared of roaches crawling about. even if it makes my skin its wonderland, i just shrug them away (like a rejected lover?) and swat them flat, their innards and insect juices oozing into our floor. but when that damned insect makes use of its wing and hovers near me like a wild firecracker, that's another story.

acting composed all throughout, i just motioned at the roach and told my nieces that our adversary lodged at the corner of the ceiling was preparing for flight. after a few seconds, we were transformed into soldiers in the midst of a fierce battle, sans the courage and chivalry of course. the three of us ran for cover--one took the nook behind the sala set, one went running into the kitchen and one sought refuge at the main living room door.

it was like a raucous symphony. amidst the yelling, there were seconds of silence sandwiched--an homage to the fear and anticipation: "where will that vile multi-legged flying abomination of nature swoop to next?"

this was answered quite promptly when the most scared of us three, my younger niece, let out a grotesque melody of crying and shouting. the cockroach directly flew to her head, aiming for the face!

after being spared, what echoed within the walls of our house was infectious laughter. we caught a snaphsot in our heads of what my niece looked like as her life flashed before her, courtesy of the airborne culprit. her face turned white and her mouth was ajar! it was the funniest impression of a face i've ever seen!

i literally got an instant asthma attack (truth be told, i just took a spoonful of guaifenesin) from laughing my lungs out. the three of us were beet red as the image of my niece played on and on in our heads. that was a freak show!

when things mellowed down, i stole long glances at my nieces. i felt that time was catching up on me really fast. it seemed like only years ago when they were infants and i cradled them in my arms. now, the older one has turned to some some sort of a popular heartthrob at school and the younger, into a government scholar who has the talent with numbers.

this thing that happened with the cockroach is something that we'll talk about when we're all wrinkled, maybe. in that moment, i felt a warmth in my chest. this is the stuff of age-old anecdotes.