Incy Wincy
“Incy wincy spider crawled across the wall Incy wincy spider doesn’t care at all As incy wincy spider know I won’t squish him Or crush him with a tissue and throw him in the bin.”
Despite being terrified of spiders, as a child—and for good reason, living abroad meant we were in contact with monsters that grew to a seemingly unnatural size—as an adult, I have become more tolerant and even, dare I say it, almost best friends with one particular variety of spider.
The dashing, and rather well named Zebra Spider. This tiny little fellow is a voracious hunter whose territory is large and all encompassing. They patrol day and night all over the floor, walls, and yes, ceiling, looking for pray and, I am reliably informed, will eat just about anything that moves. Thankfully, that doesn’t include me or mine, otherwise, it would be all out war.
I got over my fear of spiders years ago, no thanks to two older brothers who did their best to terrify me almost constantly by capturing and letting lose the biggest spiders they could find, into my bedroom. Usually at night, when I was sleeping.
Why? Well, other than terrifying me and the thrill, I guess the fact I could literally scream the house down for several minutes in a crazed hysteria, till all the offending culprits were squished, or captured and released. And, no matter what punishment was doled out to my brothers, they continued for several years.
As an aside, for those who are interested, I got my own revenge when I found out that both were equally terrified of snakes. Over a several month period I captured the odd snake, here and there, and put them in their beds. (Yes, I did make sure they were not poisonous. Of course I did, I didn’t want to kill myself over revenge!)
It was an epic battle!
Détente eventually followed. I’m sure my parents were happy when it did.
Funny thing is, maybe it was all that therapy and over-exposure to the monster-sized spiders that led the way to my being less hysterical in their presence till, eventually, I was accepting of the fact, spiders are a fact of life on earth.
Now? Now, a different kind of détente reigns here, they do their thing and I don't mind as long as they don't get too close to me.
Thanks for reading, Alex