Last night a great battle raged. I had heard spiders were timid, easily defeated creatures. All one need do is make a movement towards them and they scurry away. I had heard that they don't like people, because people are big and spiders are little and any living creature worth anything runs away from something a billion times its size!! Well, last night I encountered a spider, a fierce and brave warrior. A legend among spiders. It was roughly the size of my eyeball. It was cowering in a corner having invaded my space looking for warmth . . . and maybe some morsels of tender flesh? God knows how it got in, probably through the eyeball sized gap just under my door. I quickly grabbed my Peace Corps issued bug spray and shot a spray of exoskeleton dissolving acid at it. It scampered right back outside and good riddance.
Or so I thought.
The spider had merely ducked behind a box to gather its forces. It then charged at me with all its spidery speed. Keeping my head in battle, I managed to shoot another volley of bug spray. At which point the spider once again scampered to hide under some more of my stuff.
After our second encounter I thought it wise to retreat to the safety of base camp and ducked into my bed where I quickly secured my fortress against invaders. Every little end of the bug net was tucked in and I was safe.
However, the spider was not finished with his attack. He slowly crept out from his hold, knowing full well that as much as I had secured him out, I had secured myself in. I was a sitting duck. To my horror I noticed that in my haste to regroup, I had left my bug spray in the middle of the floor. The spider must have noticed this as well. Not only was I a sitting duck but I was also defenseless!
Slowly, deliberately, the spider crawled toward me. If he kept at that speed I could possibly leave the fortress and grab my bug spray. Should I risk it? He could rush me again. Or I could grab my shoe? It was closer to the bed but I knew my skill in close, hand-to-hand combat and it wasn't great. And then the spider stopped.
He had taken two sprays from the bug poison, was it starting to take effect? Was he dead? No! He stuck out a leg, with great effort he willed himself another inch further before he stopped again. Just when I thought him defeated, he stirred. I gave a gasp. Again he moved another inch before he stopped. And again he moved and stopped. And again, until, finally, he had made it to the edge of my fortifications. Finally defeated, the spider curled up and stirred no more.
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