a fungus among us

[cmdr_zoom]

I have mushrooms (of the "domicile cup" variety) growing out from under my bathroom walls. This is slightly alarming.

Maintenance has been contacted, and an inspector is due next Monday. Despite this, and the net's collective assurance that this type is fairly harmless, I cannot dismiss my anxiety as these little tan rubbery things emerge and unfold all around my toilet. Despite my small-farm childhood, I have a sheltered (ha) mostly-urban dweller's inexperience with the other things that live with us, even here in these habitats we build for ourselves; for me, the unexpected and unwelcome appearance of these fruiting bodies - offshoots of who-knows-what may lurk behind the (not so) drywall - are the stuff of paranoiac science fiction. This Is How It Starts.

Except no, not really. This is just something a little larger and more obvious than the mold and mildew I am already familiar with, semi-wild cousin to the domesticated white buttons I regularly consume with salad or tomato sauce, and probably less of an actual hazard than the ants that make their occasional single-file incursions into this space. I should be less concerned with Invaders From Within - Neither Plant Nor Animal!!! and more about the possibility of a few days with a torn-up and non-functioning bathroom. But try telling my hindbrain that.

(Also? The first person who mentions or links to that game with the Cordyceps-zombies will die. Just sayin'.)

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Ack, that would creep me out too. Mushrooms are supposed to be *outside*.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Next Monday? That's... it's a long word, it starts with "unac", ends with "ceptable" and has a gerund in the middle. I mean, the phenomenon doesn't make me experience sci-fi body horror, but it's revolting, full stop. And I'm not speaking as a man who has surgically high standards of bathroom sanitation here. Jesus Christ.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Eh. Now that I'm no longer cowering in my bedroom from The Myco-Terror, I can see it. The inspector (who confirmed that I should leave things as they are, rather than attempting to clean and remove the things myself) is probably busy and wants to do a thorough job, and is dealing what is probably just a relatively minor leak, maybe some water damage, and some opportunistic growth.

I'd much rather have that than, say, the autopsy scene from Contagion:

Assistant: You want me to call someone?
Coroner: Call everyone.