The Spider in My Kitchen
Several months ago, I saw a wolf spider in my kitchen. For those of you who don’t know, wolf spiders are one of the largest arachnids in Virginia. A large specimen, legs splayed out, would fill the palm of my hand. They’re not especially chonky, but they have very long legs and they’re fast. Really fast. They’re, like… the Usain Bolt of the spider world. As soon as I’d seen it — whoosh — spider was under the refrigerator.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” the saying goes. Except, this particular spider was out of sight and therefore the only thing on my mind. I searched under the fridge, peeked under the stove, inspected every corner of the room. No spider.
I slept with the bedroom door shut and a robe tucked tightly under the door to make sure it couldn’t get me in my sleep, and searched the kitchen again the next day. Still no spider. I haven’t seen it since.
Many months later, it’s still on my mind. I have no idea where it went. Is it still here? Am I sharing my home with it? Is it lurking just out of sight under the very furniture I’m sitting upon? Did it go downstairs into my unfinished basement to prey upon the population of camel crickets that live down there? Did my dogdaughter eat it?
I’ve no answers for any of these questions, and that bothers me greatly.
p.s. – Y’all don’t get a photo on this one because there is no way – NO WAY – I’m getting close enough to a spider to take a picture of one. The cover photo is AI-generated, and even it creeped me out.
