08.26.2004 - 11:26 p.m.
Thursday
It's late August/early September
in the Puget Sound, and Mr. X is on the crawl.
Mr. X is in dire need of some
female companionship, you see. Driven by an unstoppable force
of nature; the passion to court, to mate, to woo. Ah, Mr. X,
you romancer, you sender-of-red-roses, you want nothing more
than to grasp the object of your desire and whisper sweet nothings
under the glorious, glorious light of the moon.
You could even say Mr. X be
wantin' to get some action for his pedipalps.
Who IS this object of mystery?
Why, none other than the dapper Tegenaria
gigantea*, out looking for some ladies.
* I do not suggest you
follow that link if you had something planned for the next 48
minutes of your life other than craning your neck around wildly
and patting down hairs on the back of your neck. I'm just saying.
Mr. X is the aptly named Giant
House Spider, and apparently this is the time of year he emerges
from whatever godawful corner of hell he calls home and starts
moseying around Seattle, lookin' for love.
Truly, if these things weren't
SO incredibly horrifying, SO monstrously, comically huge, SO
pants-shittingly macabre in appearance, it might be easier for
me to objectively deal with them. For instance, when encountering
one of Mr. X's kind in the guest bathroom early in this morning,
it would have been great if I could have had the following internal
monologue: Hmm, that spider must have been distracted in his
frenzied lust by the lure of water, and is in fact now doomed
by his inability to climb back up the slippery tub wall. Sucks
to be him. I'll just chalk this sighting under "Educational"
and move on with my business. Tra la la.
Instead, it went something
like this: Oh my fucking GOD it's lurking there in the DARK
waiting to leap onto my FACE with all eight of its hairy, hairy
legs KILL ME NOW DON'T LET IT TOUCH ME AAAAAAGH.
Thing is, they're just too
damn freaky. Perspective goes flying out the window when it's
4 AM and the massive dark shape in the bottom of the tub reveals
itself when you flip on the light.
You know you've got a fucking
tarantula in the house when your husband, who ordinarily loves
to scoff at your girlish "eek, a spider, kill it!"
episodes, shakily emerges from the bathroom and asks where the
broom is. Ho ho, not so brave now, Mr. I Can't Believe You're
Freaking Out Over That Tiny Thing, are we?
So Mr. X. I hope he finds what
he's looking for. I hope she's got a great set of cephalothorax,
and I hope she's about 23908130 inches from my bedroom.
last ::: next
40
comments so far.
I have moved. - 1.03.2005 Obviously, a work in progress. - 12.27.2004 Happy holidays! - 12.24.2004 Listen, I am not a complete dick, it's not like I want Joe to die alone surrounded by cats or something. - 12.23.2004 Plus I am convinced my butt is extra big when it's upside down. - 12.22.2004
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