Night Crawlers

There are some things that my beautiful wife does not appreciate in the same way as myself…pickled herring, cold weather, cold toes on her back, dirty socks left in the middle of the living room floor, night crawlers in the refrigerator.  Sarah does an amazing job of concealing her joy, using leery eyes of dissent, upon finding a new or gently used box of night crawlers in the refrigerator.  “Ewww, Ryan, You know how I hate night crawlers in the refrigerator!”

“Hey, don’t accidentally eat those!...I need those to catch some (one…if I am lucky) delicious Walleyes…and then I can clean them on your kitchen counter!”

There was a short window of time, when I chose to appeal to my better graces, and attempt to keep the night crawlers in another cool dry place in our home.  The garage would get too hot in the summer…the bedroom was cooler, but I didn’t anticipate it being a good idea to keep night crawlers within 10 feet of the bed, so I opted for the laundry room.  It was perfect…cool, dry, and much more spacious. This allowed me to expand into raising my own night crawlers, thus saving money and refrigerator space.  I invested in a nice 6”x8” Styrofoam box with elastic lid straps…filled it with night crawlers that I found after a heavy rain…added bedding and food and stored it on the cement laundry room floor.

“I don’t like worms in the laundry room!”

“They are not just worms! They are night crawlers...and, hey, at least they aren’t in the refrigerator!”

“What if they get out?”

“There is NO WAY they are going to get out…it’s not possible.”

Then…one morning, I was awakened by my red faced bride screaming “IT ISN’T WET LAUNDRY,” while spearing me in the side with a finger as sharp as a dagger.

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought I was walking on wet laundry…it wasn’t wet laundry,” she seethed.  “It was worms!...You said they wouldn’t get out!”

My mirth quickly ended upon finding how many of my precious night crawlers had been crushed by foot of my dear, unsuspecting wife.

I was certain that they wouldn’t get out.  I was wrong.

In John 13:31-38…Jesus predicts that Peter will deny Him before that night is even over…Peter declares “Never!” Peter was certain that it wouldn’t happen…yet…he was wrong, just as I was wrong.

Now I keep night crawlers…in the refrigerator.