Erik, the lovesick cricket
September 25th, 2006 by Will
Erik moved in sometime last week. At first I thought he was a cockroach, but I realized my mistake when I noticed his light color, long legs, and penchant for strutting around the carpet right in front of me with the room fully-lit. He got a little more cautious though after I threw a computer manual at him. His long legs saved him, but I think he now appreciates how deep runs the alienation and revulsion felt by humans towards our insect relatives.
But he’s stayed with me all the same. Although, since I don’t know how he got in I guess I wouldn’t know how he would get out. Finding him visually has been more tricky, but it’s easy to know he’s still here. Oh, the chirping!!
Tonight he’s taken up residence underneath my cd player. I wonder if he knows that is the central source of all music in the apartment and picked his spot accordingly, or if it is just a happy coincidence. At the moment the stereo is off, and he’s the one very dramatically filling the room with sound.
So I began to wonder what he has been eating, or if not how much longer he might live, etc. That little trip on the internet got me to thinking.
First off, according to the internet, crickets bring luck. I can use some of that.
And, of course, the chirping is a mating call. But I’m afraid that there is nothing fertile and female in this apartment of any species (I’ve checked), and so I don’t think his call will be very fruitful. A lovesick song for hours each night, night after night, never to be answered.
That’s a noble tragedy I can relate to. So I’ve resolved to no longer throw heavy objects at him. And I’ve named him “Erik”, after the title character in Phantom of the Opera, a kindred mournful soul, similarly condemned to loneliness and haunting his dominion with the music of unrequited passion.
You alone can make my song take flight -
help me make the music of the night . .