My mother had a tarantula named Sophia that she kept in an old fish tank that had been decorated with a couple of geodes and had a screen over the top. The screen didn’t cover the entire top – there was a hole in the lefthand corner, right under one of the geodes. My mother assured me that there was no way in billy hell that Sophia could get out, but I knew otherwise. I’d watch Sophia for long minutes, her evil ways, and pray that she would stay put. My first paying job was to gather grasshoppers for Sophia to eat, a dime a piece, and I did so with great success for most of the year. Sophia, to her credit stayed in her grim tank for a long time, with occassional forays out onto my mother’s arm.
The day I had so long predicted came, though, and Sophia was nowhere to be found for three long days. It was during this time that I developed a love for high heels. At night, I imagined Sophia crawling all over my body before I woke up and screamed. But I found her hanging on my mother’s closet on the third day and went outside to tell the adults. My mother didn’t believe me because of my calm delivery of the news. I told her to go look and see for herself and got on my bike and rode off until I was sure Sophia would be back to her home. Did my mother now see the flaw in the screen given the recent events? No, she deemed it a fluke. The screen was fine. How many times could a spider make the great escape? I spent a long time looking at her once she was back, wondering where she’d gone that nobody would know about and did she like being so free? The other tarantulas in the house were in the freezer, waiting to be molded into decorations. I wanted to tell her it could be worse if she wasn't my mother's favorite.
Michelle's Spell of the Day
"After the first death, there is no other." Dylan Thomas
Champagne Sangria
1/2 bottle of champagne
cut fruits (apples, oranges, cherries, etc) sitting in orange juice cut with water
Mix and serve chilled.
Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Sunday to all!
4 comments:
If a tarantula was loose in my house I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I'd be sleeping in my tent in the back yard. Just the thought of having one loose in the late hours of the night gives me goose bumps. Sounds like you were the Jack Kevorkian of the Jiminy Crickets. When you wish upon a star.......
Dr. No has the scariest tarantula sequence in the James Bomb films.
We're still feeding flies and crickets to our preying mantis. And today, like most Sunday's, I cleaned our rat cage. I'm wondering how much upkeep there is for a tarantula. It could be my next pet.
Mighty Isis I could use some of that champoagne sangria on a day like today, sounds good to me. But spiders of all kinds creep me especially crawling ones
Rock on Foxy Lady R2 C2!
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