The Mantis that Preys...

Last night my roommate Courtney and I returned from Wal-Mart at a really late hour (okay not so late, were were just tired....) and were walking half-awake up the stairs to our apartment. We...or should I say I, observed a rather large praying mantis resting its gangly legs on the wall outside. Once I pointed out my little "observation," it became a threat to Courtney's life. She flipped out and understandingly ran for the door, looking behind her to make sure that the praying mantis wasn't waddling after her with its arms reached out for a hug. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that dramatic. But the reaction was a bit wilder than anticipated. I did somersaults all the way to the door in order to protect myself (it works for all the secret agents--somehow they never get hit by the showering of bullets around them), then slammed the door shut...at least, I thought I did. Before I knew it, a friend of ours named Tanna came in for a visit. She must've let in our other friend we had tried to avoid moments earlier. All Courtney got out once she saw it was "Mantis. On. Wall." Then we all went berserk... I covered myself efficiently with the rolled up mattress pad I had just purchased (that was dumb of me--what bug wouldn't like a soft place to rest?!) Tanna attempted to get the mantis off the wall and back into the currents leading out the door...with a pillow. He didn't like that. In response to the bludgeoning of our pillows, he jetted into the air towards our faces, arms still facing out. Needless to say, none of us was in a hugging mood. Christina, our other brave (with a capital B!) roommate, tried to catch him with a paper bowl...but when I told her she had to slip a paper underneath the bowl to get him outside, she looked at me like I had asked her to eat the thing! By this time we were going to go for the "damsels in distress" approach, which happens to work especially well when you have a balcony. Tanna discreetly shouted out into the void, "We need a maaaannnn! We've got a mantis in here!!!" So was that "we need a mantis, we've got a man in here," or the other way around? We may never know who heard the call, because no one ever answered. Finally our fierce pillows seemed to scare the once-loving insect out the door and into the night. I shall never leave the house without a matress-pad-shield again.