For weeks now, I’ve had a tendency to wake up with a start, thinking I’d seen some menacing spider or scorpion on my bed, ready to strike. Each time, I jump up and turn around to face the threat. The absence of arthropods confuses me for a split second, but as consciousness floods my frontal lobe, I realize it was merely a dream that startled me. Maybe a side effect of the Larium? Who knows, but I’ve come to affectionately think of these figments of my imagination as Larium Bugs.
Hitching a ride to Mpika in the cab of a semi, I began to doze. Karma was about to get me, because I’d laughed at my fellow hitch-hiker no more than half an hour earlier when she mistook a jacket falling on her for an attacking spider.
As I fell asleep, a big fat Larium Spider appeared on the right side of my chin. I felt this one before I saw it, but in my semi-conscious state, I hazily saw my face from a third person view and confirmed that it was a hairy arachnid on my face.
I swatted my face with my hat as I woke back up. But what’s this? My chin feels suddenly cool. No, wet. The spider was no more than a giant glob of drool, now distributed between my face, my shirt and my hat. It’s ok, it’s dark in here… I don’t think anyone noticed…
