Crickets Are the Roaches of Silver Lake

Ya’ got crickets anyway. Tons a’ crickets out there.

               —Lee, True West (Shepard)

I swear to God there are more crickets here than I've ever seen or heard anywhere else in the country. That includes North Carolina, where there are a lot of crickets.

We see them hopping about the lawn when we come home. We open the door and inevitably one hops into the house. About twice a month, a cricket somehow finds its way into our bathtub and gets trapped there, hapless and confused as a housefly caught between a windowpane and its screen.

And as I type this, I hear in the background? . . . . . chirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirpchirp......

What's the effin' deal with all the crickets? I never heard about this part of LA. Wasn't the cricket supposed to be in Times Square?