She watched a red legged spider crawl across the wall in the dressing room where she was sitting reading a book. “What a beautiful creature,” she thought as she imagined the little suction cup feet like little tennis shoes clinging to the wall and now scurrying across the mirror.
She wished she could look at it more closely without getting close to it. It finally crawled down into the sink. She ran some hot water onto it trapping it in the drain. She wasn’t quite enlightened enough to let it live, but at least she felt guilty about it.
Her rule for spiders and all other crawly creepies was that they were allowed to live outside, but if they came inside, they were fair game to kill. She liked nature, but not in her bed, shoes, or on her person.
One night she woke up to that icky feeling that something was on her. It was! Hundreds of ants were dropping down on her from the light fixture above the bed. She just about had a heart attack before Jack brushed them off of her and Raided the hell out of them.
They closed the door tight and slept in the living room for the rest of the night. Jack took the couch and Kristie took the recliner. It was kind of romantic to camp out in the living room with the fireplace going. Jack was asleep as soon as he settled.
Kristie quietly turned on the TV, poured herself a glass of Merlot, and watched a Bollywood movie. The TV didn’t bother Jack as long as it wasn’t a talk show with bursts of loud laughter or a shoot ’em up with lots of guns firing and things blowing up. Anything with subtitles was great. That meant he didn’t have to watch it, and Kristie could enjoy it as part of her late night habit.
She finished her wine and the movie and went back to sleep. She really was sorry about that beautiful spider. Her friend told her not to worry. “They can live through attempted drowning. It’s probably doing fine somewhere in your closet!”
(First published 2/9/12)
