Secret rendezvous

/ Fran Haley

One morning, as I brush my teeth, out from behind the mirror comes a little spider.

It sits there on the wall as if watching me.

I am not a spider fan, generally.  But I don’t kill these little wanderers (sudden inspired quote: Not all those who wander are lost. Hmmm. Interesting point, Tolkien).

No, usually I capture the creatures and put them outside. If they’re small. I am getting someone else to deal with them if they’re large.

This spider is tiny.

And  . . . I don’t know . . . friendly. I  know exactly what my husband would say: What, you think it’s Charlotte, right? 

I just don’t have the heart to bother it. It’s not bothering me, so I let it be. Right there on the wall by the mirror. I finish getting ready for work, turn the bathroom light off, and call, “Bye, Spider. Have a good day.”

I think no more of it until the next morning when I am brushing my teeth, and out from behind the mirror comes my new friend.

We begin meeting this way every morning.

“There you are!” I say as my spider emerges later than normal one day. “Sleeping in? Have a late night?”

I swear if I can find a cup tiny enough, my spider would have coffee with me. I imagine it holding a miniscule newspaper. What our conversations would be:

What are you going to do today?

Oh, just stalk some prey. The usual.

Great. Get the gnats, will you? They’re on my last nerve. I don’t know where those things come from.

Sure thing.

Then comes the day the spider doesn’t show.

And the next.

And the one after that.

I begin to be sad. Seriously. Surely no one in my family has . . . no. I won’t think like that. I haven’t told any of them about my daily morning rendezvous. They can’t know, then, that I have a relationship with this spider, so. . . .

But no one has mentioned seeing a spider, so I don’t, either.

After another week, as I am dressing in the morning—lo and behold!—what should I see but my tiny friend there on the floor by the garden tub!

“Where have you BEEN?” I cry.

“What?” calls my husband from down the hall.

“Uh . . . never mind!” I call back.

I grab my phone and take a picture, because, well, that’s what you do with friends. You take pictures to remember them by.

I bend close. My spider comes nearer to me.

“Listen,” I say. “I missed you. I’m happy to see you’re well and all, but when I’m not here you really need to stay out of sight, okay? Other people just won’t understand.”

My spider takes this in. I can tell. I’ve looked him up and I know he’s a jumping spider and that they are very intelligent. They have cognitive abilities. They can be trained . . . after all, doesn’t he know where to find me each morning?

In other parts of the house, I hear my family bustling about, getting ready for school, for work.

“It’s not safe at the moment,” I tell my spider. “When everyone’s gone, you can come back out and do whatever it is you do during the day, but for now. . . .”

I slide a bit of paper towel under my spider.

He hangs on. Doesn’t protest.

I tuck him gently behind my fuzzy gray bedroom shoes.

“There,” I whisper. “That’ll do. Until later.”

I turn out the light.

“Bye, Spider. See you in the morning.”

I feel certain, from his sanctuary behind my bedroom shoe, that he’s waving a tiny leg.

 

16 thoughts on “Secret rendezvous”

  1. This slice was such a surprise! I was at the edge of my seat – completely entertained. I could see you and hear you. I was rooting for this little spider and so relieved you tucked him away. Spider is truly a lovable character. This really could be a children’s book! Thank you for this lighthearted start to my day!
    Clare

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  6. Thank you for your light-hearted story. I read it pre-shower this morning and guess what? I found a stink bug in my shower and thought of you and your spider. Oh what a dilemma I had with that bug crawling around – much bigger and scarier!

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  7. I think I would have preferred your friend to stay in the mirror vicinity. Now, I’m afraid that it will decide a shoe is the place to be and a foot will not know the resident is in. However, I did enjoy your conversation real and imagined with this new friend. Hope it doesn’t come to an untimely end.

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  9. This was great. I don’t kill spiders, either. Mine is more superstition than love, I confess. I learned from Huck Finn that killing spiders is bad luck. I am known in my household as a liberator of spiders. No one else is fond of them, so for their protection I escort them outside. I love that this one kept reappearing…and that you carried on conversations. I’m nervous about the proximity to the shoes. I guess that will be handled in the sequel.

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  10. Love your story, Fran. I think you have the makings of a picture book. Have you read “Sophie’s Masterpiece” by Eileen Spinelli ? I think you would enjoy it. We love it.

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