The Hole of a Cockroach
BY KJ I APRIL 30, 2009

We sat on the curb, paper clips in hand.
Joe Shuma impaled a napping cockroach.
The roach's legs pinwheeled and froze in a strange pose
as if trying to hug a very close friend...
I wedged the bent end of one clip in below the head.
Shuma asked: Do you think a cockroach has a soul?
I did not know what to say.
Then he took his paper clips back from the roach's body.
A carcass of exoskeleton, limbs, and antennae oozed orange paste
before I smeared the pest under my red, converse shoe.
Joe blinked a few times.
I said: "Why should we go to Sunday School after this?"
He shrugged. I did too.
We went anyways.
Kids.

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