It started with one. A black bug the size of a rice grain just casually crawled its way around my dish rack. I grabbed a napkin, crushed it into oblivion, and tossed it to the bin. This is my kitchen, good sir.
Odd. We don’t usually get bugs in Hong Kong. I checked the usual suspects. A bowl of dragon fruits, my pile of garlic, and one lone ginger in a plastic bag. None of them had any crawlies around them. Maybe it was just a one-off. I didn’t see any more for the rest of the week.
Case closed. I didn’t need any help to solve a problem as tiny as ant-sized bugs. Especially when they were trawling around the kitchen, a corner of the flat I claimed for myself because of all the cooking I do there. I worked out the bug situation all on my own.
Then yesterday Jin spotted a black bug on top of our pillowcase. We jumped up, wondering if it was bed bugs. We scanned our studio flat and saw the rest. Little black bugs, all sparsely walking around the floors, making their way for who-knows-where.
I freaked out. Where could they have come from? Did the prolonged summer this year bring these bugs in? There was a typhoon last week. Was that the cause of it?
Jin was quick to search the bugs up on Reddit. She determined very quickly that they were weevils (accurate name IMO), and specifically the kind that feasts on dried grains. Our rice was in a locked tupperware, but we remembered we had open boxes of Barilla pasta on our shelves.
Oh gosh, is this why people store pasta in food jars? I thought it was just an Instagram influencer thing to make their kitchens look pretty. I should order some.
This hullabaloo about the bugs was on me. I'm the one who stocked the kitchen, and now every shelf needed inspection. I told Jin to rest. She was so fatigued from the day. I couldn't let her get roped into my mess.
Jin took out the vacuum cleaner and to get those little suckers around the flat. She said that these bugs could eat through plastic, so I should inspect the cabinets carefully. I got rid of any opened grains I could find. If I saw just one bug inside the bag, I immediately threw it into the bin. Couscous, gone. The boxes of pasta, gone. Jin snuck a peak at the pasta box and said, “Yup, they’re all in here.”
I shuddered. The bugs were so freaking gross! But I can fix this. I just have to cull all the grains from the cabinets and we’ll be done for the night. I told Jin to rest again.
Jin instead calmly passed me the pack of disinfectant wipes, saying that sanitizing the shelves would stop them from coming back. I cleared the shelves, tossed out any expired items (I didn’t want to give the bugs more places to hide), wiped down, and arranged the remaining items (mostly instant noodle packs) back. She continued down her Reddit rabbit hole, vacuum cleaner still in hand as she pointed them at the ceiling. There are a few types of weevils. There’s another kind that eats coffee beans. I immediately checked my opened bag of beans and found them bug-free.
I felt so overwhelmed and wanted to just call an exterminator. Pest control, maybe? Should we pack a set of clothes and just sleep at the nearest hotel? But then what if they breed more?
“They don’t bite and are not dangerous to us,” Jin said. “It’s okay. We just need to take out the trash and we’ll be fine.” I thanked her and told her to rest. She took off the bed sheets and ran the laundry cycle.
Jin is used to my refusal of her help. She had told me before that I should let her help around a bit more, instead of taking on everything myself and feeling overwhelmed. In other circumstances, I would fight back. In the face of these bugs though? I just wanted to curl up and cry.
After helping her put on the new bedsheets, I asked her if I could tap out and shower. She had already turned on the gas fifteen minutes prior so I would have steaming hot water ready. I offered her to go first, but she said she was now fired up on a killing spree and is determined to get all of these suckers.
It was only after I had calmed down during the shower that I realized how patient Jin was at helping out even though I kept shoving her away. All the things I felt didn't need to be borne alone. It's not like I was carrying the whole load anyway. We both lived in this flat, after all. She repeated that the bugs were not my fault, that it wasn’t a problem in the past few years, and that infestation was just simply out of our control. Also it was okay for me to accept her help, even ask for it sometimes.
I just hope that it wouldn’t take another grain-loving weevil infestation for me to accept the help.
Thank you for the help, .
📖 Congratulations on the book launch,
! I’m 33% through reading Good Work.🌈 Led a meeting with Hong Kong’s financial industry to see how we can solve marriage equality in the city. It’ll take a while (if at all) but the process must start for progress to be possible.
🎨 Had a conversation with
around creative energy, experimenting with creative pursuits, and the importance of injecting the personal aspect into writing that fills the market gap. P.S. She’s a great creative coach!🥃 A friend took me to my first ever whiskey tasting. I would have been so intimidated at the guide without him, but it was a fun experience to share with someone.
🎥 Watched No Heaven, But Love with tickets gifted by a friend. Not a fan of the violence (I’m squeamish) but I’ll support any queer Asian movies so they make more.
📷 Reached out to FilmNeverDie to see if they have any photo walks while I’m in Melbourne. They don’t, but they offered to lend me their back-ordered Nana Camera.
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“This is my kitchen, good sir.” … really got me lol.
So sorry you had a bug infestation! I had bed bugs in college and it was one of the worst experiences of my life.
Also Jin sounds amazing.
Beautiful vignette, Becky! And thank you for the mention :)