Scorpione

On Sunday Chris and I were introduced to another form of Italian "wildlife." I was still snoozing in bed when Chris yelled from the bathroom, "There is some kind of crustacean in here." I heard "incrustation" since incrustation is a familiar thing in our bathroom as the water is so hard here that you can litterally see calcium floating in it. In fact the #1 cleaning product in the grocery store is called "Disincrostante."  

"Where is it?" I asked. 

"Between the toilet and the sink," Chris replied. 

"Well, that could be almost anything," I said. 

"NO, I mean a CRUSTACEAN" 

"What? Like a crab?" Now I was wide awake. By the time I got to the bathroom Chris had stunned the "crustacean" with a shoe. Although I had never seen one in real life, I knew it was a scorpion. Three graduate degrees between us and all we know about scorpiones comes from an Indiana Jones movie where Indy says that when it comes to scorpions, bigger is actually better (i.e. less poisonous). We both stared at the tiny scorpion. Chris wacked it again with the shoe.

Once I had my shoes on I went to the computer for internet research, where I found that large and small doesn't necessarily mean anything when it comes to scorpions. Apparently the types found in Italy - large or small - are generally not too poisonous. In fact, when I told one of my coworkers we found a scorpion in the house, he said the frightening creatures signify good luck. I would believe that, but Italians have a way of saying anything bad that happens to you means you are lucky including being pooped on by a bird, spilling champagne, or getting soaked by rain on your wedding day.

The moral of the story is, you can't trust all the information that you find in an Indiana Jones movie. I'm starting to wonder now about the aliens teaching the Mayan Indians farming...