Between You, Me and the Lamp
Post
Day 15: A Funny Story About
a Spider
I know, it sounds weird … a
funny story about a spider? Funny and spider don’t exactly go together. But it’s
true. And there’s no need to run for the hills ladies, I’m just as scared of
spiders as you are so there won’t be any pictures of the eight-legged monsters.
The picture you see above is
where the following story took place. It didn’t happen to me, but to Ray, a
close personal friend. In all the years I’ve known him I never caught him in a
lie, so take it from me, this is 100% true.
It happened a long time ago
when Ray was still a boy. He was on his way home from school in Barberton,
South Africa, on a particularly hot day in December. The road was a dusty brown
flanked on either side by corn fields.
At one point, Ray got the
distinct impression that he was being followed, but when he looked over his shoulder
there was nobody there. He walked a few meters more, looked again, but no, he
was alone. Or so he thought.
After yet another couple of
meters he turned again and this time he looked down and saw that an enormous
tarantula was about three meters away from him. Despite the poor condition of
the road and the intense heat, Ray took off like an Olympic sprinter.
When he looked behind him,
hopeful to be as far away from the spider as possible, he noticed to his
surprise that the eight-legged monster was following him, sprinting with all its
might. Ray recalled running even faster, panting and praying for help.
When no help came and Ray’s heart,
lungs, and legs could no longer keep up the tempo he knew he had to slow down. But
he didn’t want to slow down, he wanted to get as far away from the brown-haired
spider that was still following him.
In the end, he had no choice.
The temperature must have been a scalding 43 degrees C (110 degrees F) and his
body was giving up.
Expecting that the tarantula
would be upon him within seconds, he
looked back and noticed that the spider had slowed down too. When he slowed
down even more, so did the tarantula. Finally, Ray came to a stop and so did the
spider.
Ray stood there, looking at
the beast, completely puzzled. When he had rested a bit he moved forward and so
did the spider. Ray was not in the habit of swearing, but he admitted thinking
at the time … well, I’ll be damned. When he increased his pace, so did the
spider.
Eventually, a few trees came
into view and thankful for the cool of the shade, Ray decided to take a break.
He was no longer scared of the spider, as it seemed it meant him no harm.
It was no surprise to him
that when he rested under the trees, so did the spider. But this time, when he moved
further away the spider remained where it was. Ray moved further and further away,
but still, the tarantula did not move. After a while, Ray went on his way and the
spider stayed behind.
When he got home and told
his family about the spider, his mother nodded with understanding.
“You seem to
know why the spider was following me,” Ray commented.
“Of course I do,” his mother
said. “The tarantula was hot and was walking in your shadow to stay cool. You said
so yourself that as soon as you got to the trees, the spider didn’t follow you
anymore.”
It made perfect sense. The
tarantula had walked in Ray’s shadow the whole time and increased its pace when
he ran faster and slowed down when he slowed down. As soon as they reached the
trees it found another source of shade and didn’t need him anymore.
Ray didn’t like spiders but
he had to admit, it was a rather ingenious trick and proved that spiders are
smarter than he thought.
The fact of the matter is, Ray
said, spiders are more afraid of us than we are of them.
Somehow I seriously doubt
that. As I mentioned earlier I’m terrified of them and I have quite a few spider
stories. But that’s for another day.
