“My leg,” Chris said and pointed at the red dots now speckled the flesh.

“That doesn’t look too good,” I said.

Earlier in the week, his roommate emailed me in the middle of the night asking if I had eucalyptus oil (nope, because I use real leaves to steep in my eucalyptus ice cream) because he had fleas. Make your own, I suggested, unsure if this was a real phenomenon.

But several days later, Chris confirmed its existence. He found it hopping on his sock. Not one, but two. Then during the night, he scanned his legs and found random red dots all across his ankles and feet. It itched like crazy. “I want to boil my feet,” he said thinking of the extreme.

“How did you get fleas?” I asked his roommate.

I imagined a dog rolling around in the dirt and poking her nose in unwanted areas. Curious and without any awareness. A clueless human might do the same too, right? Stepping in something drenched with larvae, and hopping onto a human host. A human host who didn’t necessarily cleanse right away, but allowed things to breed and breed. I always wondered since I never saw him take a shower daily. But why should anyone? When the state is in a horrible drought? But I had to, it was my way of getting to sleep.

“I don’t know,” his roommate said. “It’s better today.”

“Look,” Chris said and showed the webcam around his carpet. “I sprinkled white powder everywhere. Borax. I need to go. I am breathing on the insect repellent fumes.”

I sat back in my bed, safe for now. My eyes blinking back sleep, breathing easily in air and a room free of bugs. At least for now.