Spider Brains: A Love Story (Book One) (24 page)

"Do y-y-you understand what d-d-danger you've p-p-put me in?"

"Oh. Pa-lease. I mean. Really. Settle down. You're getting all unglued about nothing!"

"N-n-nothing!?" He paced from one point of his web to the other. "You can't s-s-stay. You m-m-must g-g-go."

"No. I must not!"

"L-l-look. You've p-p-put us in d-d-danger."

"Grave danger?"

"Is th-th-there any oth-th-ther k-k-kind?"

"Well, hmm. Let me think. No. I suppose not. There is
not
any other kind."

I looked toward the window and spotted pussy. She sat atop the railing on Morlson's landing. She was washing her face, licking a paw, washing one eye, licking the other paw and washing the other eye. Her hair looked shiny and slick in the moonlight, under the moon reflecting off of the bright white of the snow on the landing. The trees in the background looking like hula dancers. The wind had whipped up in a terrible way.

Snow clouds hung low. Crows tried to fly but the wind was kicking them off course.

I thought about leaving right then and there but my plan was postponed
for
me.

Rider stared so intently, that it made me a little squirmy, you know, uncomfortable. So, I turned my sight back to Morlson again, who was now floundering up to her feet. The act of all that movement for someone so sedentary made her sag on top of that poor bed of hers. She took in a few audible breaths, as if someone had just popped their head out of water after a long swim.

I could only imagine how her heart sounded, like a bass drum in a parade, banging by, one might think. The pumper bottle dangled in-between her first two fingers, her cigarette smoking fingers.

"You see that?"

But, Rider remained quiet.

I looked over. "Did you?" His eyes gleamed with something that I couldn't quite figure out. It looked like hunger and fear all wrapped up into one expression. "Did
you
?" I forced.

When he wouldn't speak and when our eyes connected, I mean, really connected, things became strained and felt tenuous, thorny, even.

"There!" Morlson screamed, making me look away.

And, when I did, Rider made his move.

He attacked
me
!

FORTY FOUR - Snow Won't Freeze the Pain

Hitting the icy snow at a full gait, made me slide and fall fast onto my butt. A no-brainer.

Still...

Oh, insult of insults.

There I sat, on my now bruising bum under the falling snow in front of school. Good thing classes were in session or else people would've seen
that
wonderful acrobatic stunt.

I just sat there. Cold as it was, I sat there, sniffling back my tears.

I didn't hear him and when he spoke, it startled me. "Get-t-t up."

"Hhh?" I sucked in, thinking it was Rider.

"It's f-f-freezin' out. Get up." Matt's teeth rattled. He was carrying my aquarium and had his coat laying across his left arm. Then, he set down the aquarium, wedged his hands under my armpits and lifted me to my feet. He held his coat out in front of him open like a matador and threw it around my back and over my shoulders.

"Thanks." I slipped my arms through the sleeves. It hung sloppily and spilled way off and over my fingertips.

"I didn't get your backpack, Jamie has it." He smiled as he admired me in his oversized coat. "C-c-come on. Let's go home." He picked up my science project again.

"We'll get cited for cutting class." The class bell rung through the outdoor speakers.

"Big deal."

He snickered when I turned around to walk.

"What?"

"Your butt."

"What about it?"

"It's totally c-c-covered in snow."

"Well, you're stuttering." I wiped at the back of my skirt.

"I'm f-f-freezing!"

"She killed my spider."

"Yes. And. You know what?"

"Huh."

"She
must
pay." He smiled big tight cold grin at me and we walked home, not saying much--a nice, quiet walk home, all except the sound of Matt's rattling teeth.

A
nd, all except, spitting at the cemetery's sidewalk.

FORTY FIVE - A Dirge for Spider

Only spider ears can hear the distinct sound made from web-building. It sounds a lot, to the human ear, like bacon frying. That's how I awoke from my long doze after my debacle at school.

Mom came home from work, shortly after I'd awoken, after calling her earlier, before my nap, begging her to come home.

"Honey. Just settle down." Her voice soothed me right away. "Now. What happened?"

"Morlson. She killed my spider."

"What!"

"She screamed at me saying I'd stolen my science project idea."

"
Why
... I'm going to rip the..." Mom's voice shook, trying to force back fire and brimstone she wanted to cast onto my teacher. "I have to let people know I'm leaving early today and wrap up a few things around here. It won't be more than a couple of hours, three at the most." Then she paused. "Make that four."

"Just hurry, mom. Okay?"

"Of course, darling. My baby. I'll be there after lunch. I promise. No later than one o'clock."

"K."

"K. Then." Then, she tried to lift my spirits. "Want a piece of pizza?"

"Costco pizza?" I asked trying to sound excited but was crossing my eyes and sticking my tongue out at the same time.

"Yeah?"

"Sure." Bleek. "Thanks mom."

"Love you, Miss Susie Speider."

"Enough, mom. K? I'm not a baby anymore."

"You'll always be my baby, Susie."

"Gross."

"Hush."

"Bye."

"Bye."

So, after we talked I went and got some leftover spaghetti and meatballs mom had frozen for just a day like today when the promise of Costco pizza hung morbidly close in my future. Matt would eat it. He was coming over for another tutoring session and the pizza wouldn't go to waste on him.

But, like I mentioned before, the sound of web-building woke me. When I awoke I had a ton of cobwebby stuff around my mouth. It had gotten all over my hands. Gross. I hated this part of becoming a spider. It seemed so unnecessary. I rolled my loofah over my hands and my lips and lifted my head off my pillow. I sat up then dropped my legs off the side of my bed, toward my window, toward the desk, the very desk where I'd set the aquarium.

Looking around for the origin of the sound, I just fixated on my science project and my poor dead spider. Tears threatened to burn out my pupils if I let them. I hated to cry and rubbed the butts of my hands hard into my sockets.

But, there it was again. This crackling that let me know a spider web would soon appear somewhere in my room.

I looked up at the ceiling but my attack-spider had long since crawled away. I got up to see if I could get closer to the noise and walked toward my door but, over there, the sound weakened.

I turned back and got onto my hands and knees looking for signs of a spider anywhere--around the baseboards near the floor in a corner, anywhere. Nothing. However, as I turned and crawled toward my desk the sound increased, although to the human ear, you wouldn't have heard it but for me, with my super duper amazing new senses in tact, I figured it originated somewhere higher than the ground and closer to the window.

I pushed off my hands and knees when I got to my desk. The crackling was loudest there. When I stood, I leaned over my desk over my science project aquarium and scanned the sill and all around my window pane, trying to detect the fine silk webbing. Nothing. But, what was funny was that it was still very audible right here, where I was standing.

I looked up. Still nothing.

I looked down. Into the aquarium. Nothing.

I mean, nothing! My spider was gone! I knew I hadn't moved her.

"Spider!" I yelled, then hushed my voice because of the spider rules. "Spider." I whispered. "Here spider. Come here, spider, spider." I repeated it again this time in a sing-songy way. And, what d'ya know? My spider emerged. She came out slowly, stopped and wiped her forearms across her face, like "what the... what's all this stinky stuff that woman sprayed on me?" You know.

She was alive!

I rejoiced. "You're alive!" I said but then she just asked me (in her spider way) to bring on a smorgasbord of bugs for her to eat--she crawled back and once again began building her website (snort!). I was so happy I decided to call Matt.

I held the phone between my shoulder and my ear and, out through my window, watched his house. But, after the twenty-thousandth ring, I hung up.

It was funny, looking out like that. His front yard looked exactly like ours, now, under a two-feet of snow. His roof, the bank of boxwood that lined their front porch, all steeped in white with only speckles of green peeking through, letting you know something alive grew under its icy blanket.

Then, movement down the block from around the corner sidetracked me. It was Matt. He was walking home. But, he'd just
gotten
home with me. Then I realized he must've gone out while I was napping. He was still out without his jacket. His arms wrapped tightly, as if holding himself up while he walked. Even from across the street, I could see his jaw trembling.

I pounded on my window when he got closer to his house. He stopped and looked around slow. Then, he saw me at the window. I waved him over.

He pointed at his chest, like, me?

I rolled my eyes and put of my hands, like, no duh.

H
e checked the street for cars both ways which made me giggle a little because we live on a cul-de-sac. Titter. And, I walked out of my room toward the door to let Matt inside.

FORTY SIX - Dancin' the Spider Tango

"That is way too cool." Matt looked down into the aquarium as he spoke.

"You saved her life."

"Me?"

"Yep. You."