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19 August 2004
In Memoriam
I lost a pet today...one that I haven't had very long, and one that most that know me would be shocked to know I called it Pet. Her name was Charlotte, and she was what my husband called a "writing spider." Charlotte had been living in between the storm door and the wooden door in our basement for the last three days.
I first spotted her Monday morning when I opened the door to let the dogs out. She had spun a web and was starting to write on it...I had to destroy some of it, though, so that I could get the door open. I would shove the door open and urge the dogs out quickly, sure that Charlotte would come skittering toward me ready to bite. She didn't. She sat on the door and watched me.
On Tuesday she had moved completely onto the wooden door. She started another web which I accidentally broke when I opened the door. I managed on Tuesday to reach up and prop the storm door open so that the dogs could run in and out. When I left for an interpreting assignment, I left the door unlocked so that I didn't have to stand in between the doors for too long. I figured that if I did, she'd come skittering toward me ready to bite. She didn't. She crawled up the window in the wooden door and watched me.
I was gone most of the day Wednesday, and was sure that I'd come home to a web across the wooden door that said "Go Away" or "This is MY house now," but I didn't. In fact, Charlotte was still sitting on the wooden door. I said hello to her on the way in, and then asked her why she couldn't have written "One of the dogs had an accident in the house" for me...she didn't answer, but settled into the molding around the window on the door to watch me.
This morning when I opened the door to let the dogs out, Charlotte stopped sitting on the door. She stopped watching me. She came flying down on her web right in front of Hunk's nose. He snorted and snapped, and broke her web. Charlotte balled up on the ground, and I was sure she was dead.
She wasn't. When I attempted to move her out the door with my shoe, she uncurled those LONG legs and began skittering toward me, just as I always knew she would. But this time it wasn't to bite me...it was to avoid being cast out the door. I tried to redirect her with my staff from the renn fest...and she ended up losing two legs in the process. I finally got her out the door...right in the path of the incoming dogs.
Charlotte's body is still right outside the door. It's funny how I didn't notice until she was dead how intricate the pattern on her back was, or how red her legs were. They looked like miniature coral snakes, with the black rings at regular intervals. I wonder if her body was soft or if she had armor? I wonder if she had teeth? I wonder what she would have written for me today...
Goodbye Charlotte. I'm sorry that I didn't understand...but I can't say that this experience has changed my mind about spiders. There was just something different about her...
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