Ever wonder what it feels like to have a bucket of ice poured over your unsuspecting body? To those of you who do not hold the title of football coach, I'm thinking perhaps not. This is the feeling I got when I turned around and saw this HUGE spider sitting behind me!
I had just recently moved into my first and very own apartment. I was attending school at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL at the time and was super excited because I could attend school and not have to live in the crowded dorms. This was the first time I had lived completely on my own and I was still getting a handle on the tricks of the trade! One night during finals, I had just gotten home from work and felt the slow haze of sleep washing over me, I hadn't slept in 2 nights. Yawning, I decided to make up a quick dinner in the kitchen before heading in to crash on my bed. I had just finished warming up the spaghetti when I turned around and saw the fury, eight-legged monstrosity behind me. I thought it was going to eat me. Never in all my years had I witnessed a spider so big--except for maybe on TV.
I froze, that bucket of ice I been poured over me and I sat there like an icicle, a warm drip of Prego running down the fork that was raised halfway to my mouth. Three thoughts tonged like bells in my mind, 1. Kill! 2. Cute! 3. Alone! I could see the eyes of the spider looking at me--following my every move. It felt as though I was being hunted, and yet--could it be that I was not the only one who was lonely in this apartment? Was the spider looking for a friend like I was? My utter love for animals and fear of spiders had conflicted me into a motionless, zombie-like state. Finally, I moved just enough to grab my camera which was sitting across the counter--my ever present need for story material had jerked me out of my frozen haze. I snapped the picture wondering if that was going to be the last move I made in my short life. The spider continued to stand still---watching me--and then, it took one step--and then one more. It was coming towards me and I decided that there was NO way I could live peacefully in my new apartment if I knew this thing was crawling around the place.
I always wish I could've found a way to take the spider outside, back to its natural habitat where it could live a long and happy spider life. However, there was no way I could bring myself to come any closer to it, my heart was already pounding itself to an early death. As the spider came toward me I grabbed the nearest thing to my hand---a frying pan (no old hag, rolling pin or broom jokes please) and I dropped it straight down on top of my unfortunate house guest. An eyeball popped out. I screamed. The horrors of my dreams had awakened and were advancing upon me! I was not prepared! I was in pink pajamas that now sported a new Prego stain! What could I do?
My eyes searched frantically around the room for any sign of a weapon that I could use to make sure this nightmare was dead. They landed on my pair of 10 lb. dumbbells. I grabbed, I lifted, I threw down, and I felt like a murderer. This was the biggest living creature that I had ever killed and I felt completely awful. The poor spider hadn't done anything to me---not really. I sank down on the floor and prepared myself for another sleepless night. Living alone was harder than I thought.
Oh, my gosh, I know that feeling. That's a big spider. And then comes having to lift up the frying pan and either wash the dead thing off the bottom of it or off the floor -- and what if somehow someway when you lift it up the spider's still alive which you sort of hope maybe it is but not. . . yccch. Some people kill creepy crawlers from a distance using aerosol spray which suffocates them, but smushing seems more humane. From a story telling perspective, I thought you did a good job. I like how you switched from "spaghetti sauce" to "prego" and your narrative voice conveyed the tone of the encounter quite well. So did you throw the frying pan out rather cleaning it off?? :-)
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