The Spider

Frustrated and angry, he turned to head back to the House and looked over at the web once again. He walked over to it, his hand tightening around the stick, and impulsively began slashing at the web, breaking the strands holding it to the well handle and shed. The main body of the web floated down on top of the rosebushes, and with an angry grimace, he struck at it repeatedly. The web disintegrated and small body parts of the dead insects flew up from the broken web and settled back into the depths of the rosebushes. Breathing heavily, he turned toward the eggs and swung at it like a batter looking for a long ball. The eggs made a soft popping sound as they burst, and a dark vicious fluid splattered outward in an impressive spray. He could see the small, crushed bodies of the almost completely formed baby spiders flying outward as he swung again and again.

With all traces of the spider destroyed beyond any reasonable recognition, Calvin’s anger began to subside and he took several deep breaths to calm himself. Gathering several leaves together, he walked back to the rat, wrapped the leaves around its tail and lifted it off the ground. It came up with a sickening, squelching sound as its dead body separated itself from the earth, and Calvin headed back to the house with the rat held out in front of his body as if it possessed some horrible disease. After getting an up close and personal look at the spider, he supposed maybe it did.

He dropped the rat in his front yard--meaning to grab a plastic bag to wrap it in before throwing it in the garbage can--and trudged up to his front door. Letting himself in, Calvin headed over to the kitchen and opened the cabinet where he kept his flashlight. He flicked the flashlight on, but only a weak yellow glow greeted his eyes, this beginning to fade as he looked at it.

"Sonofabitch," he murmured, trying to remember where he kept the spare batteries. He went back to the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinets and drawers with no luck, then thought about the basement. He walked down the stairs--flashlight in one hand--and searched through his various tools, knick-knacks and old, moldy carpentry and home improvement magazines. He had spent a good fifteen minutes already, and was becoming increasingly aware of the fading light outside, knowing he did not want to go back to the well without good, strong sunlight backing him up. Finally, he found some batteries half-hidden in a box of rusty nails and screws. A strong beam shined out when he inserted them into the flashlight.

Calvin headed back to the front door and reached for the doorknob, but then stopped. He needed something to reach into the well to retrieve his bucket and the carcass of the dead spider. Swearing under his breath, Calvin went back to the basement and searching around for another five minutes, found an old roof gutter with one of the ends bent inward. It looked to be long enough and he would be able snag objects with it easily.

Calvin walked back upstairs, opened the front door and stepping across the threshold, felt something soft and yielding underneath his boot. He yelled in surprise as he looked down and saw the rat.