roly poly bugs

Growing up, my Dad or brother always seemed to be around to take care of the creepy crawlers for me. Except for this one night, I cringed with terror and almost rolled over dead.

We were still living on Rainbow Forrest Drive. I was probably in my awkward pre-teen phase. Long hair, scabs on my knees, braces on my teeth, and stuck in a loop hole between young woman and little girl. Being that age is a horror in itself, not to mention, add bugs into the equation. I would not want to have to go back and re-live those days, my friend.

I didn't grow up being a prissy girly girl. I was most definitely an adventurous child. I swam in snake infested creeks. I lived on my bicycle for months on end. I was one of the boys in the neighborhood. One hot summery day, I was playing a game of truth or dare with my brother, and two neighborhood kids, Kyle and Cameron. Most of our dares were harmless and silly. I think Kyle had to give Jon a titty twister and Cameron had to streak in his boxers around the cul-de-sac. When it came my turn, I chose dare. "I dare you to eat a roly poly bug, Danielle" Cameron snickers. When you are playing truth or dare as a kid, there is no backing out. You have to do it. It goes against nature to wuss out and not do the dare. I think at 12 or 13 its an unspoken law. When you pick dare. You have to do it. So I pick up a rock and roll it over. Lots of creepy bugs, caterpillars, and roly polys are crawling around on the underside of the rock. I pick the smallest roly poly I can find, and gently roll its body into a ball and toss it into the back of my throat, like its nothing. I was quite the crowd pleaser.

What I never told anyone? When Jonathan and I went back to the house I began freaking out that the roly poly had babies inside my stomach, and multiplied. I imagined my stomach filled with these creatures crawling around on their little legs. I lifted my shirt up in the mirror, terrified, that my stomach was bulging with the creepy crawlers. I had convinced myself that I could literally see them crawling inside me looking at my stomach. I worried that they were going to crawl out of my mouth in the middle of the night and take over my bed. Then my room. Then the house...etc. etc. The only thing that made me feel better was that I convinced myself that everything would be ok if I pooped all of the roly polys out. I'm guessing that I spent the next hour or so in the toilet, talking myself through getting rid of these bugs. I must've pooped or something cause I can't remember too much lingering anxiety from the experience.

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