Last summer I had the opportunity of getting to know Daren. Now Daren was not your everyday person; in fact, he wasn’t a person at all. He was a spider and he lived just outside my window. Now spiders are very interesting and unique creatures. They have a love for lore and history, but only from that of their own family. They maintain this history through their webs. Now we as humans do not have eyes as keen as spiders (nor nearly as many). So every web that is woven has hidden (at least to us) within it that family’s history.
It was
one fine evening that I, resting upon my window sill, asked him if there was a
famous spider that all spiders kept record of. At this question Daren moved to
the far corner of his web and with a face most solemn he nodded. “Yes, this
portion here is dedicated to the greatest and most legendary spider. One so
well known that he even made it into human lore. This is the story of the ever
so brave Gary.”
A long
time ago before you were born and I was hatched and possibly even before this
window existed, was the time of Gary. Now Gary seemed to be just a normal
spider (if not perhaps a little on the small side). He had his web with his family history in between a wall and a drain
pipe, out of the way of humans, but still in a good spot for meals. Yet in a way
he was different for he had traveled an unusual distance from his hatching nest.
So even at a young age he was a little more adventurous.
The day
that Gary’s life changed forever was a spring day in May. It seemed like any
other spring day. The birds were chirping, a fresh layer of dew on the grass,
and not a cloud in the sky. Gary woke up feeling restless. He thought at first
that maybe he was hungry, but going over and pinching the leftovers from
yesterday found that wasn’t it. He tried going over his family’s history--nor
was that right. So, Gary stopped moving and sat in the center of his web and
thought and thought. He knew that he had felt this way before but couldn’t recall
when nor how he relieved the feeling. Then in a sudden flash of youthful
excitement he remembered escaping from his egg and running. Running as fast as
he could. It didn’t matter where he ended up as long as it was elsewhere.
Unbeknownst to Gary he was moving to the edge of his web as he thought this.
Coming to a sudden realization of what he was doing, he stopped and shook
himself out of his dazed state. Gary being a little bit older and wiser than
his just hatched self, knew that it would be foolish to just run off with no
knowledge of where one was heading. So he once again paused and thought. He
thought of the possible dangers he might face such as getting lost, being eaten
by a bird, and starving. Gary knew that he had to eat on a fairly regular basis.
He didn’t want to stray too far from his web and it would be great, if in his
travels, he was protected from birds and had a low chance of getting lost. Now,
if you recall, Gary had strung his web in between a house and a great tall
drain pipe and he now looked up at this pipe and thought that it was perfect. A
bird couldn’t get in there easily, it is quite hard to get lost in a long
straight tube, and it was right next to his web.
So,
without further ado Gary set off running and arriving at the entrance, he scuttled
up and up and up, excitement building as the light at the end grew closer and closer
and closer. But at this point something made Gary stop. A giant drop of water
had just hit him directly on the nose (yes, they have them. I asked Daren). He
looked up at the sky above but instead of sky there was a waterfall. A giant
huge waterfall. Gary hardly had time to think “oh no” before being pushed and
banged back and forth in the pipe. Gary fought in vain against the current
trying to find purchase on anything, but it was for naught. Tired from his
struggle Gary let the blackness of unconsciousness engulf him.
Gary
awoke on his back pinned against a rock at the base of the drainpipe. The rock
had saved him from being swept away by the crashing water. He lay there too
tired to move or think. Half drowned, but still alive. Gary could never recall
how long he lay there. Whether hours or minutes he didn’t know, but he
remembered the moment he suddenly felt alive again. It was when the sun hit
him. The sudden flash of warmth and the blazing light of golden beauty struck a
fire within him that burned and resonated to his very core. It was a fire that
said, “I will not give up. I will not die. I will not be defeated.” Gary rolled
back onto his feet and stared at the entrance of this device which had tried to
kill him. He smiled. He was going back in and this time nothing would stop him
from reaching the top. He charged throwing all caution aside. This time no
excitement grew as he got closer to the end, just resolve. Gary arriving at the
top, launched himself out of the hole and froze. Before him was a wide canyon
that stretched forth as long as the eyes could see, glittering in the golden
light of the sun.
For all
the rest of his days Gary said that was the most beautiful sight he had ever
seen. And said as much to his friends later that evening whilst sitting around
a table at the Fly Buy Café, a little diner down the wall from his web.
At this
Daren began to laugh hysterically. Me being confused, asked him what he found
so funny. “You should have seen your face believing every word I said. Like
climbing a drain pipe was the greatest thing a spider could ever do. And
spiders don’t have cafés! That’d be ridiculous!” He continued chuckling to
himself as I glowered at him, shook my head, and walked off. For spiders are
also tricksy creatures and if they succeed in fooling you they’ll go on about
it for a terribly long period of time. Even much later as the days grew closer
to Fall, often in the middle of a conversation Daren would pause and chuckle as
if to himself (but ensuring that it would be loud enough for me to hear), “Fly
Buy Café, ridiculous!” As interesting as our conversations were…let’s just say
I don’t miss him.
