Princess Arachnophobia and the Golden Spider

   I hate spiders. I always have and always will. I inherited this from my father who is the king of arachnophobia. When a spider made it into our house there was a crisis becuase my mom and my little brothers are almost as bad me and Daddy. I do have to say that even though Dad was just as grossed out as we were, he was the one that alway ended up killing it.

      It doesn't matter if  it is a small spider, a non poisonous spider, it doesn't even have to be a spider technically, if it looks like  spider I will freak out. I almost got in a wreck one time becuase I looked over and there was one right by my face on the window, on the inside! My dad, my brother and my very girly cousin was with me at the time. As you can imagine we were in a predicament. My dad finally made me pull over becuase I was weaving off the road trying to get away from the nasty thing. We sat in the car fighting over who was going to kill it when it disappeared. Then I really freaked out. My brother and cousin who were in the back seat were on top of each other trying to get away form my side of the car. I ended up climbing in the passsenger seat where my dad was. Being the great dad he is, he bravely took the driver's seat and we arrived to Starbucks safely. As I said before I really hate spiders.

     The real story here takes place when I first moved up here to go to nursing school. It was in the fall, just when it was starting to get cold. I was the only one who rode in my car, becuase my now husband was away at college as well.  The passenger seat never got used, I would just through my books into the seat and rarely even opened the passenger door. One night after clinicals I opened the passenger door to throw my books in and dropped something onto the floor. I reached down to get it and stuck my hand right into.... a spider web! A spiderweb in my car! I jerked my hand back and screamed, jumping aroung making sure the web's inhabitant wasn't on me. My fellow classmates and the hospital employees in the parking lot probably thought I was crazy. I really did not want to get in my car. I looked around for a stick, which are very hard to find in a parking lot. I finally found something long enough to keep me at a safe distance and tore down the web. I was still freaked out, but I had no choice but to drive becuase I didn't know anyone up here well enough to call to come get me. When you are trying to make new friends, you probably don't want to call them at 8:00pm and say "Can you come get me, there was a spider web in my car and I am too scared to drive now." So I bravely drove home.

     The next day there was no sign of spiderweb or spider. I called my boyfriend to let him know, because I was so relieved. Well, my relief didn't last long because the day after that, I am driving to school and just happened to glance over and there was an even bigger web wove under my dash board. The nerve of the creature! I tried to remain calm, scooted away from the dashboard and drove on. When I got to school, I smashed at the dashboard with a stick this time, scraping every hint of web away. Now he would have to be gone. Yeah right.The next day, I am not even kidding, the next day, when I got out of class there was a new, bigger, stronger web glistening in the sun under my dash board mocking me. I felt like screaming. I might have, I really didn't care about the people in the parking lot, becuase they already thought I was crazy by this time. I don't even know how I got rid of the web this time, but I did it with determination. It was alot harder to tear down this time, it was made of some strong stuff. I still kept my distance, but I got rid of the web.

     A few days went by and my boyfriend came up to visit me. We took my car, I wasn't even thinking about the spider by this time, and we went on a nice date. When we got back to the house, he looked at me, and said "Why don't you get out, I'll get out in a minute." I was like "What, why?" He wouldn't tell me why, but he finally got out and walked me to the door, then went back to the car. I followed him, and guess what he was looking at. A spider web under my dashboard, and this time the ugly little creature was out! I wasn't even near the web, but I yelled and got the chills. He turned around and laughed at me and said "I knew you would freak out, that's why I didn't tell you."  I replied, "I was seating in the passenger's seat and that nasty little thing was inches away from my legs, how can I not freak out. Just kill it!" Yuck. But he just turned and looked at me and said "Kill it?But this is a golden orb spider, they are so amazing, they build one the strongest webs in the world.(Tell me about it, that's what I thought) I can't kill it."  I told him I didn't care if the thing was made of gold I wanted him dead and out my car.  So then Casey tried to catch it, and guess what... it got away! It escaped up into my dash. I was so freaked out. Casey finally gave in and sulkenly went into the house and got some bug spray and sprayed all up in my dash. When he was tearing the web down, he said he couldn't believe how strong it was. I couldn't believe that the spider built it four times in my car.

     The next day, although my car was undrivable becuase of all the bug spray fumes, there was no sign of my "little friend" as Casey called it. Casey left and I had to drive my car, I had no choice. I cautiously inspected my car for any "golden orb" webs. I kept my eyes open every day, every time I got in my car for a week, still no sign of the indestructible spider. Two weeks, no sign, three weeks, no sign. After a month, I was finally comvinced the golden spider was gone. It was actually pretty sad. The first week I would look down and expect to see a new glistening web there under my dash, but it was empty,eerie almost. I didn't want him back, but I had to admit he was a determined little fellow, and I had developed small morsel of respect for him now that he was gone. But, again I say not enough respect to want another spider in my car, golden or not.