ADY
A Short Story
By Joy Bassetti Kruger
Spider Lady
By Joy Bassetti Kruger
Copyright © September 2014 by Joy Bassetti Kruger
S P I D E R L A D Y
By Joy Bassetti Kruger
Standing on a raised podium, Lola, -who was also known as ‘the spider lady,’ cautiously removed an enormous Baboon spider from its box.
Lola had come to the club to give the ladies an informal talk on the secret life of spiders. But at the sight of the spider her audience immediately squirmed in their seats, or cringed inwardly and peered at the spider through their fingers, hardly even daring to look at it face to face.
Somebody even let out a shrill little squeak and another woman hastily left the room.
Taking all of this in her stride, Lola smiled, for she had seen it all before. So to make the women feel more comfortable and to try to lessen their apparent fear of spiders, she told them it was a well-known fact that most women of northern European descent had a built in dread of spiders. “This fear possibly dates back to the times when our ancestors used to live in the same caves where these arachnids had also taken up residence. The fear of spiders called arachnophobia is actually irrational, because most spiders are entirely harmless,” she explained. But still a few of the women shuddered at the very thought of living with spiders.
“Do we have any poisonous ones living in this area?” Janet in the front row asked.
“No, we don’t, but at the same time I’m not suggesting that you ladies go poking around in spiders webs, as even a harmless spider could bite you, and if you’re allergic to the toxin it injects you with, you could still have a nasty reaction. The bite could swell up big bump on your arm and some people actually need to be treated by a doctor, before their throats swell and they have difficulty in breathing,” Lola said in order to set matters straight.
She then tried her best to put the women at ease by introducing them to Goldie, the Golden Brown Baboon spider she had earlier removed from her box. But taking into account that Goldie was one of those huge hairy spiders, the type of spider that people often see in their nightmares, most of the women were not too keen to interact with her.
Even so, for the most part, the twelve ladies present in the room kept their cool, while Goldie just sat there on Lola’s hand, staring back at her audience with her bright, beady, dark little eyes.
“Would anyone like to hold Goldie? She asked tentatively, but when nobody volunteered, she quickly placed Goldie back in her box, without making a fuss or commenting on their less than enthusiastic response.
“Perhaps some slides would be a better option for you ladies,” Lola suggested, assuring everyone that once they had learned a little about the intriguing world of spiders, they would be more sympathetic towards them and also more willing to investigate what they were really like. She also said, “Some of you might possibly even like to keep the spiders in your gardens, instead of spraying them with Doom,” she said.
The first slide was that of a male spider plucking at an outer strand of his web, in order to make music and send a love song serenade to a female spider.
Lola went on to explain that if a nearby female liked the song he played for her, she would respond favorably by sending him a signal to let him know that he could approach her safely, without being gobbled up. “Most male spiders have a terrible time and a short life span, due to the contrary natures of their female partners and as they are for the most part much smaller than the females, they are always very wary of them,” Lola added with a smile.
After seeing a dozen or more slides, the ladies were getting used to the idea of looking at spiders and they even began to feel quite intrigued by them.
Realizing this, Lola said, “If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them for you as we go along, -so just put up your hand when you think of something.”
Immediately, the woman who’d initially run out of the room, who was now sitting in the back row responded by asking, “How long do spiders live for?”
“Some spiders live for up to twenty years,” Lola said.
This comment brought a rapid response from the audience, with comments such as –gosh that’s a long time; or -really, I thought they only lived for a few weeks at most.
“How do you know this for certain?” The woman at the back wanted to know.
Completely unfazed, and taking it all in her stride, Lola went on to explain how she had come by her information. “I’ve been a member of a spider club for years and many people in the club have documented proof of the life of the spiders they have living in their houses or gardens. You might also be interested to learn that spiders regenerate themselves constantly, by often shedding their skins as they grow bigger and bigger. They actually have to shed their skins, as they get too large for them and the skin begins to split. The shedding also tends to give them a new lease on life and this possibly accounts for their long lifespan,” she said.
The next few slides were of a Bolas spider that was busy swinging a strand of web with a glob of sticky substance at the end of it. He swung it around and around above his body in a relatively wide circle. Apparently, he was doing this in order to try to lure a male moth into coming closer towards him, so he could grab him and gobble him up.
“He not only has the ability to swing the strand, but he also somehow manages to put the scent of a female moth onto the end of the blob. This of course, attracts the male moth towards him, but once the moth gets interested, he immediately becomes glued to the blob and the spider then eats him up. So the spider always wins in the end, except in the case of certain wasps that often sting spiders, but that is the subject of another one of my lectures,” Lola said.
“The Bolas spider is very intelligent to be able to think up that technique,” Anne said
“Perhaps he is, or possibly it’s simply a survival tactic that is inbred into the spider,” Lola responded.
Lola then went on to show the ladies pictures of a number of different spiders that lived in the area and soon the subject of spiders was generally viewed in a different light when compared to her opening gambit, when she’d tried to introduce them to the Baboon spider.
Taking this as a positive sign, Lola asked if anybody would now like to take a closer look at Goldie. “She’s actually a very gentle spider, -in spite of her fearsome looks,” she added.
There were a couple of favorable responses and several people went up to look into Goldie’s box. Some of them even asked a few questions about her, and Lola told them that Goldie was about five years old and that she was actually quite used to being handled. Lola also told them that Goldie had never bitten anybody.
“Has she ever escaped from her box?” Anne asked.
“Yes, on two occasions, but don’t worry, as I can catch her quite easily,” she said reassuringly.
Putting Goldie away again, Lola then uncovered a glass tank that contained an Orb Web spider. The spider was sitting at the centre of her beautifully constructed web that was made from fine silk-like strands, which were beautifully formed and carefully woven into strands that were all equally spaced out to form perfect concentric circles.
“What are all those bright pink blobs over there?” Sally asked.
“Oh, those are her eggs and she’ll protect them fiercely if you try to steal them,” Lola responded as Sally backed away.
Several women that now felt intrigued by this idea came closer to get a better look.
Noting their interest, Lola said, “Actually, those of you who are interested might like to start a spider diary by documenting the different spiders that you find in your garden. I suggest that you date each entry so you can get some idea of the length of time each spi
der lives there. This is what I’ve been doing and now my entire family is interested. They’re always coming inside to tell me about something interesting that they have seen happening at the various webs in our garden.”
I had previously seen what I could now recognize as an orb webbed spider, in my garden. So when I arrived home that day, I walked down to the patch of bamboo growing at the back of the garden and took a closer look. Then picking up a strand of grass I gently touched the outer rim of the web and the spider responded rapidly. “Hello, Lola 2, and welcome to my garden,” I said as I admired her stealth and speed -and also the beautiful web she had spun from fine silken strands.
Later, I discovered a trap-door spider, whose web was crafted from dry leaves and silk threads spun into a purse-like structure with a lid that could open. As she was very secretive, I have only caught a brief glimpse of her, but over time, I hope we’ll get to know each other better, and I’m confident she’ll soon get used to my presence near her beautiful silk purse-like residence.
Two years on and Lola 2 is still in charge of the bamboo area in the garden, while my trap–door spider is also still around. I have also carefully explained to the gardener that the spiders have squatting rights in the garden and I’ve told him firmly that he mustn’t break their webs.
He looked at me suspiciously when I said this and then shook his head and said, “It’s only a spider madam, -not a person.”
“Perhaps, but we still have to treat spiders with the respect they deserve,” I said solemnly, -much to his amusement.
I think he suspects I’m a little odd, or perhaps even soft in the head, but so far he has steered clear of all the spider webs.
Last week, just before the rain set in, a huge Rain spider came into the house and sat on the lounge curtains for several days, before disappearing again. Then the other day I caught a brief glimpse of a big hairy spider scuttling away and I now look forward to making her acquaintance. For while I stood there and watched her in awe, I could not help wondering if she could possibly be one of Goldie’s relatives, in which case I was probably looking at a time period of around twenty years, during which time the two of us could establish a meaningful relationship.
So, from a rather shaky beginning I’ve changed my opinion of spiders quite considerably, -for I was the person who initially fled from the room, on the day when Lola first introduced us to her wonderful world of spiders.
I now also have a new interest, –spider watching. And my love affair with all things arachnid, -no matter how hairy or scary they appear to be at first glance, has seen to it that I’ve crawled into caves, climbed up trees and searched far and wide for new spiders to tick off on my list. Even when we’re on holiday, I take along my spider diary, in case I find some interesting new type of spider along the way.
Fortunately, my family shares this interest, so there are few moans and groans when mom stops the car and goes off in search of a spider’s web in a bush someplace, that somebody has told her to look out for.
I can now also understand what Lola was trying to convey to us, when she told us that it was easy to develop an obsession with spiders. She also said we might even find ourselves having an ongoing love affair with the spiders in our gardens that few outsiders and family members would ever contemplate, or even try to understand.
Fortunately for me, my family indulges me and often joins me on my spider hunts. But even if they didn’t, I somehow imagine that I’d still continue to have an ongoing love affair with my spiders.
The End