Big Spider, Mama

Marcia took her daughter to the playground on the corner at least twice a week. It was a sanity-saver, a chance to sit and zone out for an hour or two while Caylee ran around and wore herself out. There were a few other women, also stay-at-home-moms. Their children were around Caylee’s age, between three and five, a good dynamic. The moms swapped birth stories and husband stories, teething stories and sleeping through the night stories, as their pack of preschoolers ran together like puppies. They clambered over the equipment and over each other, announcing, “I’m Batman!” and “I’m a princess!” Caylee, in the spirit of gender equality, was Princess Batman.

Marcia loved taking Caylee to the park, where her daughter could get dirty and tired with minimal effort from Marcia herself. But she wasn’t sure what to think about some of the other mothers there. When they weren’t gossiping about their husbands, they were gossiping about each other. Nobody was singled out specifically. Whoever didn’t show up that day was fair game. Marcia always dreaded returning after a long weekend, when eyes were extra-big and smiles were extra-friendly.

The children, four or five of them today, were digging in the sand pit on the far edge of the playground. Caylee’s arms and legs were filthy with damp sand, and her eyes were alive with the thrill of exploration. Marcia loved that look.

“Stacy’s taking her son to the doctor for his four-year checkup today,” Carla announced to the group. “That’s why she’s not here.”

“Are there any shots at the four year?” Marcia asked. Caylee was going to hers next week.

“I think there are a couple of boosters,” Crystal put in. “But it doesn’t matter in Stacy’s case. She doesn’t vaccinate, you know.”

A collective murmur, and a few rolled eyes. “I’m always shocked when I hear about someone like that,” Dana said. “I don’t know why, they’re everywhere.”

“She’s done a few vaccinations,” Marcia said. “Just not the chicken pox, and I think hepatitis.”

“People like that are the reason whooping cough and measles are making a comeback,” Tammy sighed. “They endanger everyone’s kids, not just their own.”

Marcia had no love for people who didn’t vaccinate for non-medical reasons, but this collective cattiness was making her ill. Everyone nodded and smiled when Stacy mentioned her son’s selective vaccination schedule, but now that she was AWOL, they made her sound like Typhoid Mary.

The group of children was moving further away, out of the sand and into the grassy area next to the hedge. Caylee squatted down and peered into the neatly trimmed bush. Then she jumped back and came running to Marcia.

“A spider! A big spider over there!” Caylee pointed back at the hedge. The other children were backing away slowly. One little boy turned and ran for the monkey bars.

“They can get pretty big,” Marcia said. “What color is it?”

“Black. And brown. It’s big.” Caylee’s eyes were wide. “Go squish it Mama?”

“Just leave it alone. Go play somewhere else if you’re afraid of it. When we get home, we’ll look up spiders on Mommy’s computer and maybe we’ll find out what kind you saw.”

“Let’s go home now.” Caylee tugged at Marcia’s hand. Marcia looked at her companions with a bewildered shrug.

“I guess this is goodbye,” she said. “See you.” And she let Caylee lead her by the hand out of the park.

That will take the focus off of Stacy, anyway, Marcia thought. They’ll spend the next twenty minutes discussing how I let my daughter call the shots and boss me around.

It was three days before they made it back to the park, and for once Caylee didn’t seem eager to go. Marcia had looked up spiders on several image searches, but they had been unable to identify Caylee’s “real big spider.” It wasn’t a black widow or a fiddleback, so Marcia wasn’t too concerned, but Caylee whimpered and clung to Marcia whenever she mentioned going back to the park to look for it again. This was not Caylee-typical behavior.

Caylee had even dreamed about it. The night following their last visit to the park, she had awoke screaming, “Red eyes! Big spider Mama, with red eyes!” Marcia had soothed her by climbing into bed with her until she fell asleep again. David had scolded her for it, and Marcia felt obligingly guilty, but the child had been completely terrified. Marcia knew the difference between real fear and a play for attention.

Caylee walked so slowly down the sidewalk that Marcia felt like she was pulling her daughter along. “Are you tired?” she asked. Maybe Caylee was getting sick.

“Scared,” Caylee said. “There’s a big spider.”

They were now at the park, and Marcia was getting exasperated. “All right, show me this big scary spider,” she said. “It’s probably not even there anymore.”

They passed the park bench where Stacy and Dana were sitting. “Hey, have you seen Robert?” Stacy asked. “I seem to have lost him.”

“No, but we’re on our way to look at a big spider,” Marcia said. “We can look for Robert at the same time. Come on.”

Stacy got up and followed Marcia to the open, grassy area and the bordering hedge. As they approached, Marcia saw what looked like snow, covering the hedge like white lace. As they got closer, Marcia recognized the thick substance as a spider’s web.

It covered the whole hedge from top to bottom. Marcia stopped walking. Caylee clung to her leg, and she could feel the little girl shaking. This really was a big spider. Or a whole nest of them.

Caylee’s grip on her leg tightened, and she whimpered. “Scary spider,” she whispered. “It’s big.”

Marcia didn’t want to get any closer. The web was enormous, like a fluffy cotton blanket. But she didn’t want to encourage Caylee’s phobia by adding to it. What was the right thing to do here?

Stacy came up behind her and hunkered down. Marcia had completely forgotten about the woman. Stacy peered through a shadowy gap in the bottom of the hedge. Marcia tried to look, but all she could see beyond the hedge were some vague white humps. More webbing, she thought.

Stacy screamed. “Robert!” And she dashed forward, into the whiteness.

The hedge exploded in a violent eruption of long legs and blood-red eyes. Stacy screamed louder, shrieked, howled in fear and agony, and then a sickening crunch and her screams were over.

Marcia saw none of this. She had scooped Caylee into her arms and was running out of the park, sobbing with fear and trying not to scream herself. Caylee’s wet face pressed into her neck, and she cried out. “Big spider, mama, really big!”