Continuing on with the spider theme, I thought I would share this short story with you. This was published twice by the NSW Department of Education's School Magazine, Countdown.
A Place of Refuge by D.A.Cairns
‘I’m so tired of this weather,’ said Spider.
‘Me too,’ agreed Beetle. ‘I want to be out running
around in the sweet, long grass feeling the sun on my back.’ She extended and
beat her wings suddenly out of frustration.
‘Calm down,’ said Spider. ‘It can’t rain forever.’
‘It feels like forever already,’ said Fly, coming in
to land softly beside Spider.
Watching Fly land and settle himself, Beetle tried
to control a shiver of disgust. Flies are so ugly, she thought, so unpleasant,
I feel like flying away. Politeness restrained her.
Perhaps, she wondered, spiders find flies equally
disgusting to look at and that’s why they eat them. They couldn’t possibly
taste good.
‘Aren’t you going to say hell to me, Beetle?’
‘Hello,’ said Beetle in the coldest, most unfriendly
voice she could muster.
‘I was just knocked down by a raindrop,’ said Fly.
‘Silly to be out trying to fly in the rain, don’t
you think?’ sneered Beetle.
Spider looked at Beetle and then back at Fly,
wondering how long it would be before Beetle’s rudeness caused Fly to lose his
cool. They might even kill each other, thought Spider happily.
‘I had to try to get home between showers because my
wife was expecting me,’ said Fly.
‘It’s been pouring rain continuously for days,’ said
Beetle. ‘How could you have possibly flown in between showers?’
‘I’ve been waiting in here for days,’ said Spider.
‘Putting up with the cold and the smell and the occasional human. It could have
stopped raining briefly.’
‘Nonsense,’ said Beetle to them both. Then she said
directly to Fly.
‘You’ve been buzzing around inside liquor bottles again. You’re
drunk!’
‘Now listen here!’ said Fly raising his voice and
twitching.
‘Come on, my friends,’ said Spider. ‘As we are stuck
in here until the rain stops, why don’t we try to get on. It’ll make it so much
easier. I mean it’s bad enough being stuck in here without having to listen to
you two argue.’
‘I just don’t like flies,’ said Beetle to Spider
loud enough for Fly to hear. ‘No wonder humans are always trying to squash them
or poison them.’
Spider reared up on his back four legs. ‘Who cares
what humans think or what they do?’
‘That’s right, Spider,’ said Fly. ‘Who cares? We
were around long before they came along and we’ll probably be here for a long
time after they’ve gone.’
Beetle eyed Fly, then shuffled around to face Spider
who was stretching his long hairy legs in all directions. Spiders aren’t
exactly the most attractive species either, thought Beetle, but at least they
have decent manners, and my, what wonderful engineers they are. Those beautiful
webs!
‘It’s not true,’ Beetle said, ‘that we have been here
longer than humans. Everyone knows humans came first and then we came along
with all the other creatures and humans gave us our names.’
‘You are so stupid to believe that, Beetle,’ said
Fly. ‘You think like a baby – I suppose you still believe in Santa Bug.’
‘I’ve had enough. I’m sorry Spider, but I am going
to have to leave. It was nice chatting with you until Fly came along,’ Beetle
said, staring at Fly for as long as she could stand the sight of him.
Fly buzzed right up to Beetle’s face but backed off
when Spider reared up again to threaten him.
‘I’m sorry too,’ said Spider as he watched Beetle
zoom up towards the gap in the toilet block between the roof and the wall.
‘Really sorry.’
Fly watched Beetle as she flew straight into a web
and was helplessly entangled before she knew what had happened.
‘Excuse me,’ said Spider to Fly. ‘It’s lunchtime.’
‘Sure,’ said
Fly suddenly worried about spending too much more time in this place of refuge.
‘I have to get going, anyway.’
‘What about the rain?’ called out Spider as he
scurried up the wall towards Beetle who was lying still, trapped in his
beautiful web.
Fly ignored the question as he buzzed upwards and
headed for another gap in the toilet block wall. He could faintly hear Spider
speaking over the sound of his own wings beating but he didn't care to listen.
He just wanted to get out of there alive and home to his wife and children.
Spider has spun intricate traps across all but one
of the exits from the toilet block. Unfortunately, Fly chose incorrectly.
Now ensnared and still, Fly cold hear Spider talking
to Beetle.
‘It’s nothing personal, Beetle.’
Beetle thrashed around in one last desperate attempt
to free herself, but Spider was soon upon her, and Fly watched in silence
knowing he was next.
Three men in black body suits. We went to Paddy's Markets yesterday for a spot of shopping and had lunch in the food court at Market City. The three men also carried mini sandwich boards on their backs and were handing out advertising flyers. As they passed us, we walked past a ninety year old man on stilts, who was dressed as a clown and swivelling a hula hoop around his hips. The things people do!
