It's not even there...

the spider

11:42 am 09.12.03

Today I played with a spider at work.

I'd already seen him shortly after I came in, scurrying along the wall next to my desk, a teeny tiny little tan and brown striped fellow. I leaned close to watch him, watch him stick out his little palps as he paused and then continued scurrying along the wall. Hours later I saw him again, scooting across the layer of papers tacked to the bulletin board behind my desk.

Then, suddenly he was going across the bottom of my monitor. He got up into the lip beneath the glass and started to make his way from one side to the other. As I closed some windows on my computer, he took great interest in the cursor on the screen.

So I scooted the cursor one way, and he whirled toward it. I scooted it the other way, he spun around again to watch. I bobbed it up and down infront of him, and he put his little forelegs up on the screen. The cursor was the same size as the spider.

We played like this for a while, and then I decided to try to ensure that Bosslady wouldn't kill him when she returned. Leaving the cursor where he could see it, I moved the plant infront of the window and opened it a crack (It's one of those types that swing open from the top). Then I picked up a piece of paper from my desk and scooted him onto it. He started jumping across the paper, got to the edge, and spilled over the side, hanging by a web-thread to the edge of the paper. I carefully lowered him through the crack in the window and waited to make sure he was where he wouldn't get squished before I closed the window.

As I saw him scurry up the metal frame on the outside, I whispered, "Good luck."

And so went my last day of work.

Then || Now