Driving with Spiders

 

Over the weekend, I was up in Heber Arizona selling and signing books. After four long days of schools and signings I was excited to get home. So I settled in for the two and a half hour drive down the mountain. The day was overcast and misty and I drove with extra care on wet roads. About ten miles into the drive I saw something small fall from the interior roof of my car, then I felt it hit my hand. When the tiny legs of a spider began to climb my hand like a miniature mountain I squealed with surprise, swerved and flicked the spider off in one fluid motion.

               Bob (as I’ve come to affectionately call him) flew through the air and for a moment disappeared. While I righted my car’s position in the lane, I began to think about Bob. I’d just left a forest. Bob could be any kind of spider. He was small, but so are brown recluse and they’re deadly. About mile later, Bob reappeared on the passenger’s seat next to me. It was as if he were taunting me, laying there with his spindly little legs all spread on his very own chair. Meanwhile, I had to contend with a fluid stream of traffic, so while I could check on Bob with a quick glance in his direction, I couldn’t really watch him. Most importantly, I couldn’t get him out of the car.

               Yes, he had the element of surprise, but I’m much bigger, I told myself. That’s when I turned and noticed that Bob was inexplicably gone. Hmmm, it seems being small has it’s perks.

             

 I began to look around the car at available hiding places. A stack of books. Maybe instead of a book worm, Bob was a book spider. Yeah, probably not. Then there was my purse, sitting there with the top wide open. I may as well have stuck a sign on the handle, spider hotel, stay two nights, get one free.  

I started itching just thinking about it. Would some poor unsuspecting teenager open my book and a spider pop out?(although that really would add to the mood of The Secret Keeper) Would I be reaching for a pen only to feel the tiny little patter of spider legs using my arm hair like a ladder?  And so I drove, me wondering where my spider friend had gone and him, laughing at me as he made himself cozy in some dark corner of my car.

What were the chances that a spider would fall from a tree, land in my car and scare the bejeebers out of me. Obviously, pretty good. Where’s Bob now, you ask? That is a good question. The day after I returned home I found one long delicate strand of spider web running from the top of the windshield to the dashboard…but no Bob to take the credit so the mystery lives on. That’s my story anyway; so what’d you do this weekendJ