"I coulda bin a contender"

I worked for a year in India as the head language trainer for HP's technical division. Most shifts were evenings to correspond with the time change in North America, their foremost clients. The company provided excellent accommodations, a huge three-bedroom, three bathroom, triple balcony condo. They also provided personal transportation to-and-from work. On my first night of being dropped off at home in the wee hours, I began my ascent to the third floor walk up when I was surprised to hear a huge scuffle taking place upstairs. The sound and fury intensified until I reached our door and outside I saw the participants: a cockroach and a gecko. They appeared to be evenly matched, were going at it mouth and antennae and this was a fight to the finish. I ran inside and grabbed my camera to capture the action on film. As I waited for a victor to be crowned, or in this case the loser to be eaten, I thought of all the great boxing matches I'd witnessed over time: replays of Schmelling versus Louis, Duran and Leonard, Hearns and Hagler, Ali and Foreman, Ali and Frazier. This little third-floor dust-up enthralled me almost as much.