As I descended the stairs to the underworld of our house, a fear consumed
my eight-year old body. This place, though absent from maps, was too
familiar to me. This basement was a war zone. An army of devious crickets
attacked the territory. From the towering shelf barracks they waited with
stealthy patience. Thunder from the pernicious furnace drowned their
chirpings as they planned strategies. Suddenly, a flank of crickets would
leap at me from a window, followed by a sweep from the dryer.
These skirmishes ended as I galloped up the staircase to civilization,
waving my white flag of surrender.
[Heidi Feller]
