Creeped by the Crawlie

Ada and I were sitting in the side room where most of her toys live, when I looked over at the low shelf. We've shoved all her books into a cubby-like shelf, figuring it is easy for her to get at but we can control the scourge of toy-spread throughout the room. Right, so I look over and see a multi-legged insect scurry along the base of the shelf, and up under a book. I only saw it for a second, but I think it was one of these. Blech.

I hate silverfish. They creep me out in a way other bugs do not. Spiders I am fine with. They do good things, like eat other bugs. Flies are annoying, but not upsetting. Ok, so I don't like cockroaches, but I don't get all squirrelly and jump on chairs when I see them. (Though now that I think of it, I am happy to be living in a part of the country in which cockroaches are much less likely to be my neighbors. And whatever they tell you in Florida, Palmetto bugs ARE cockroaches.)

Back to our guest: I jump up and grab a cloth diaper, and carefully but quickly pick up all the books on the shelf. I don't want to teach Ada that bugs are scary and icky (seems like so much more work for me if she gets that kind of phobia). I'm not screaming EWW! but I'm intent on finding the bug. No no avail, apparently. I picked up and inspected all the books, but somehow the silverfish made its escape. There is a back to the shelf, so I don't know how the bug escaped, unless the darn thing darted back off the shelf while I was getting the cloth. This bothers me, because now I know it is there, waiting for me. I am sure that very little twitch is the wiggle of a feeler, every tickle comes from its many toes.