One day, my mother cockroach told me not to go out of our crack.
“Why?” I said.
“Because your cousin Roachy got killed.”
“How?” I asked.
“By some Raid Bug Spray. Your father saw some cases of that stuff!”” she replied.
“Well,” I said, “this is becoming the Land of Raid.”
Later that night, we didn’t have anything to eat, because we were scared to leave our crack. I was as hungry as a mouse. So—I decided to go and get something to eat. Anyway, it was dark and the people were asleep, I thought.
So, I left and I saw the father of the house with a can of bug spray. I ran behind the stove. I saw a lot of my relatives on the floor dead. But there was no use crying. Then I saw a bread crumb on the floor. It was right by the man and I was so hungry, I would risk my life for it. I scampered over to get it:
At first he did not see me, then he saw. me and killed me and up I went to the roach heaven in the sky.
Original photograph caption
Original drawing accompanying Untitled. The Paper, April1975,page3. Artist not credited.
Originally published in The Paper, April 1975.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1975_04.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
