SPIDERWOMAN

I collect spiders. Yes, those critters most people hate. I find them fascinating. When I find a spiderweb outside I sit and watch it until I see a bug get caught. Then wait for the spider to suck the juice out of it. After that I carefully transfer the flowerpot or whatever the web is attached to, into the house. One time I had a black widow couple. After they mated for hours she ate him. Soon out of the eggs dozens of babies appeared.

The hardest job was attracting flies to keep them fed. A piece of rotten meat in the living room did that job. That was fine until the meat crawled off in the form of maggots. It almost made it out of the open door, but was stopped by the five tarantulas I have living under my bed.

No one understands the thrill I get when one or more of those beautiful, bulky spiders crawls over my naked body at night. The more I learn to love spiders, the less I like people.

Ellynore Seybold-Smith