I had a good day so don’t leave thinking I didn’t. It was punctuated with conflicts.

The first started several days ago when I arrived at work. I’m usually in about a half an hour before the other guys I work with and that’s when I first notice the sound.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

No, not a bird a cricket. Somewhere just behind me. “…Neat”, I remember thinking.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

The sound went on and off though out the day. You’d think that the thing would have moved on by today. But no. I can’t even begin to imagine where it came from. No more than I can imagine why it’s still there. James, who works on Saturdays, asked me today if it was “my cricket”, perhaps imagining that I had a small oriental wicker thing that people use to keep pet crickets. “No, that is definitely not my cricket”, I explained.

Saturdays in our office our relatively quiet. I have noticed that the cricket gets most vocal when we are all quietly tapping away at our computers and not talking or listening to music. “Well he was driving me crazy on Saturday…” said James. Right on queue the cricket started up again.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

I moved the filing cabinet that the sound was coming from and then it stopped singing. I returned to my desk in the hope that I would be able to get a better idea of where he was. Sure enough:

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

I looked down to where I thought he must be then crept slowly towards the floor, not making any sounds, I thought. Again the chirping stopped. I slowly returned to my desk and continued working until it started again. “I think these things can feel the air move”, I informed James. I suppressed the urge to search the net for some proof of this.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

I wheeled my chair around (more understanding Edgar Alan Poe than I ever have) and looked down at the place where the baseboard heater meets the floor and sure enough, there he was, like a little radio personality who disappoints you with their looks long after you’ve become accustomed to their voice. I pounced on the floor and it was gone.

“Did you get him JT?”, asked James.

“No… do we have any duct tape?”, I replied.

“What do you need duct tape for?” James said to my back as I swept into the back of the office. I opened the supply cupboard and found a roll of that clear acetate type tape that people use to tape up boxes. I pulled off a long strip and clumsily taped it to a sheet of letterhead sticky side out. Then I cut away the extra paper around the tape and laid the whol mess near the place where I had first seen the cricket.

“I hope your not planning to kill him”. Said James.

“No I’m going to release him into the wild”, Says I.

I went into the kitchen and scooped some Gatorade out of my stash and sprinkled a small pile onto the tape and then returned to my desk. More exciting developments tomorrow as the hunt continues.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

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