Emily and The Spider
Page 1
Emily and the Spider
By
John Dony
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © John Dony 2008
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
The right of John Dony to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published in the United Kingdom in 2008 by Shedbetter Publications
Contact the author: Johndony@btinternet.com
Contact the illustrator: www.childrensillustrators.com/lorajones
Contact the publisher: shedbetter@btinternet.com
This book is dedicated to Emily (of course)
I would like to thank my wife Jill, for understanding the need to tell these stories,
I would like to thank my Mum and Dad who always let me be who I wanted,
I would like to thank Lora for her amazing artwork
and I would like to thank the kids, who are always a source of inspiration.
Contents
Chapter 1 Emily
Chapter 2 The Party
Chapter 3 Web
Chapter 4 The Birth
Chapter 5 Help!
Chapter 6 Bes
Chapter 7 The Letter
Chapter 8 New Friends
Chapter 9 Stripe!
Chapter 10 Out of the Frying Pan
Chapter 11 Orbs
Chapter 12 You can Choose your Friends
Chapter 13 Finding Emily
Chapter 14 Miss Perivale’s Lunch
Chapter 15 Farewells
Chapter 16 20 Years Later
Chapter 1 – Emily
Once upon a time, in a hot sunny country, there lived a little girl called Emily. She was Eight years old, with long blonde coloured hair and blue eyes. Her daddy was always telling her how beautiful she was and that one day she would grow up to be a very important person.
Emily’s house was white. White and very big! It was a wooden house with a veranda, which is sort of a walkway, all around the house. Emily could run around the whole house in a stunning 38 seconds. She used to time herself with her daddy’s best watch, just to see if she could improve every time she tried.
Emily’s father was an ambassador. She didn’t know much about it, except that it meant they had to go to different countries and make friends with lots of different people. Emily didn’t mind though, because at age seven, she had already seen more countries than most people see in any one lifetime.
The thing Emily did mind though was not having any friends. She had never lived anywhere quite long enough in order to make any.
Apart from that her life was very good. She went to lots of big parties with her parents(and generally fell asleep). She had a massive garden to play in, which was bordered by a jungle. She had all the toys she could ever want, but ‘little Em’, as her daddy always called her, was an adventurer. She was always climbing and hiding and getting lost. Her mummy would always say “curiosity killed the cat”, and Emily would reply “but, we don’t have a cat”.
Anyway, as I said Emily was an adventurer, and on this particular Friday afternoon, after her private study lesson with Miss Perivale, a skinny black-haired woman(of whom Emily was sure was a witch, and who daddy always pulled faces at behind her back and made Emily giggle) her best and most exciting adventure was about to happen.
Chapter 2 – The Party
Today was ‘little Em’s’ eighth birthday. A lavish party was thrown for her. All her parents important friends attended, and some of their children. Presents were given and party food was eaten, everything seemed lovely. But ‘little Em’ was sad. It wasn’t the presents, there were plenty of them, all looking very expensive. It wasn’t the food, she had eaten all she could. The party games had been fun, the dancing, the hiding. No, ‘little Em’ was sad because she hadn’t been to visit her friend today.
Chapter 3 – Web
You see ‘little Em’ did have one friend, although I am not sure that many of you would consider this friend very suitable for a little girl.
Emily’s friend was a spider! However, this was no ordinary spider. It was big! Bigger than ‘little Em’s’ hand. It was Colourful too with lovely orangey-red stripes and a fluffy body.
Each day ‘little Em’ would collect all the dead flies that had flown into her bedroom and died against the window in the night. She would gather them all up and store them in her handkerchief, her most valuable possession, and set off along the veranda.
The large web was high up in the corner. ‘Little Em’ would take one of the kitchen stools out onto the veranda to stand on. Once she had climbed carefully onto the stool, she would take the handkerchief out of her dress pocket and throw each fly, one by one, into the web. Slowly the spider would crawl out of the corner and gather up the flies. Then, laden, she would swiftly return back to the safety of her corner.
‘Little Em’ was sure that the large stripey spider would each time, look at her and smile. At least, if that was her mouth!
This would go on day after day. ‘Little Em’ would go and get the stool and feed the spider, her friend, and then sit and watch her scuttle around.
One morning, after ‘little Em’ had gathered the flies from the window and dragged her stool to the web, as usual, she stood on the stool carefully and took out her handkerchief. She looked at the web, but today something seemed different, the spider was nowhere to be seen. Even after ‘little Em’ had deposited the flies onto the web, still no sign. ‘Little Em’ sat and watched and waited patiently, but still no movement. Just as she was about to go, she spotted something in the corner, up near the rafters. There was a small round ball that looked like cotton wool. ‘Little Em’ wanted to see more clearly, but it was dark up there in the rafters, so she quickly jumped down from the stool, ran to the cupboard under the sink and fetched her daddy’s torch.
Chapter 4 – The birth
‘Little Em’ climbed back onto the stool and aimed the torch high into the corner where she had seen the small white ball. As she switched on the torch there was a sudden movement, her friend, the spider, shrunk back into the rafters to avoid the glaring light.
“Don’t be scared” ‘little Em’ said. “I was only looking to see where you were.”
As ‘little Em’ looked at the spider again, she was sure that what she had said had been fully understood. The spider raised her head as if to acknowledge her words. She looked towards the small white ball and ‘little Em’ followed her gaze. As the torch-light hit the ball, Emily gasped, nearly falling off the stool. She regained her balance, stood up straight and focused the torch-light back on the white ball again.
It was moving, there was no doubt about that she thought.
“What have you got in there?” she said out loud, not expecting an answer.
“My little babies” uttered a small voice.
‘Little Em’ did fall off the stool this time, landing on the floor with a big ‘thud’. She looked around to see if there was anyone else around, watching her, talking to her, but no, she was quite alone.
“Now I am going mad” she said to herself. However, her curiosity got the better of her and once again she climbed up onto the stool. With the torch in her hand, she shone it shakily back into the rafters.
“Could you please stop doing that?” a soft voice said. “I find it rather off-putting and my babies are trying to sleep”.
‘Little Em’ promptly switched off the torch. “Ssssorry”. Was the only word she could squeak at that mom
ent.
“Thank you. Now, why don’t you run along and come and see me tomorrow” said the spider.
“But, spiders can’t talk” said ‘little Em’, feeling a little more comfortable now.
“Well” said the spider “apparently you have been mis-informed”.
‘Little Em’ got down off the stool and turned to walk away, stunned.
“Good night Emily” whispered the spider.
Chapter 5 – Help!
Miss Perivale was always up early in the morning.
“A good stiff constitutional and plenty of water” she always used to say.
Emily always whispered “nutter” under her breath.
This morning was the same as many for Monica Perivale. Up at 5 am, brisk walk, plenty of water and then a few laps of the veranda.
Miss Perivale was a mean woman. Never married, no children and this job, tutoring Emily, was all she had.
And another thing about Miss Perivale was, she hated insects, especially spiders…..
As she finished her third lap of the veranda, Miss Perivale was a little puffed so she sat down on a stool, that had been conveniently left out. As she did so she happened to look upwards, she immediately squawked “aggghh, how dreadful”! Mumbling to herself, she proceeded to her room.
It was rather unfortunate that Emily had left the kitchen stool there, by mistake, the night before, or Miss Perivale would probably have glided straight past otherwise. But seeing the stool and feeling a little ‘puffed out’ she had chosen that moment to sit. And sit she did on ‘Little Em’s’ stool directly under the spiders web!
A minute later she reappeared with, what looked like, a deodorant sprayer. It was, however, much more lethal. She removed the plastic cap and aimed the nozzle into the rafters. She turned her head away and let the killer spray do its work.
Miss Perivale released the whole can onto the spider, the web and the babies contained in the cotton wool ball.
The can, now empty, was thrown onto the lawn. Miss Perivale turned to leave, looking very pleased with herself.
‘Little Em’ woke up and rushed out of bed to go to see her friend, with no slippers, no dressing gown, just in her nightie. She ran to her stool and immediately climbed up.
“Hello” she whispered. But there was no reply.
“Hello there” she repeated. Again, no reply.
Maybe it was a dream after all, she thought to herself.
“Psst”, “Spider, are you there”? Still, no reply.
Emily sat now on her stool. Why didn’t she answer, she wondered.
As ‘Little Em’ was just about to turn and leave, to take the stool back to the kitchen, she was sure that she heard the faintest of noises, a noise that was no more than a squeak.
She crouched down to the floor and waited, listening. There it was again. She moved closer to the floor. She could just about make out a tiny voice, “mummy, help” it said.
Chapter 6 – Bes
“Hello” said ‘Little Em’, “are you ok”?
“Help me” came the tiny voice again.
Emily could not see the source of the voice, so she said “I’m sorry, but I can’t see you”.
“I’m down here”, came the tiny voice, “in the corner”.
Emily looked to the corner, made by one of the wooden pillars supporting the veranda roof. There, hidden away, was a tiny spidling, no bigger than ‘Little Em’s’ thumb nail.
“Oh, hello there” said Emily.
“Where’s mummy?” said the baby spider.
“I was wondering that too” replied Emily. “Where did you come from”?
“Me?” asked the spidling. “I think I came from the nest up there”.
‘Little Em’ put her hand out near the baby spider. “Don’t be scared” she said. “Climb on”.
The spidling crawled into Emily’s hand and Emily stood up.
“You are very pretty” said ‘Little Em’ to the spidling. “What’s your name”?
“I don’t have a name yet”. “My mummy will give me a name when we find her”.
Just then Emily looked around. She saw the saddest sight that she had ever seen in all her eight long years. There on the grass on the other side of the veranda was her friend, the spider. The spider was not moving. Emily knew in her heart that the spider was dead!
“Oh, baby” she said to the spidling. “I am so sorry”.
She walked around the veranda, down the four wooden steps arriving at the still body of her friend the spider.
“There must have been a terrible accident” she said. As she did, she lowered the baby spidling onto its mummy’s back.
“Why isn’t mummy moving”? asked the baby spider sadly.
“I’m sorry, but I think that she is dead”.
The little spider started to cry. Emily held out her hand and the spidling crawled slowly into the palm of her hand.
“Come with me” said Emily, “I have an idea”.
Emily held her hand close to her face and smiled at the little creature. It smiled back.
‘Little Em’ walked back to her room, carefully cradling the spider in her hand.
“Where are we going”? asked the spider.
“We are going to find you a name” Emily replied.
In ‘Little Em’s’ bedroom was a large wooden bookcase, with each of its six shelves housing all manner of books. Books about ancient Egypt, scary ghost stories, books about boats and books about legends. However, that day she knew exactly the book she wanted. It was a huge book about every animal in the world.
She placed the baby spider on her desk and whispered “wait here a minute”.
“Ok” came the little reply.
Emily went back to the bookcase and lifted out the book, using both hands. She carried it to her desk and before she placed it down, she checked that the spidling hadn’t moved. She didn’t want to squash the little thing.
“Right” said ‘Little Em’ “lets find out what you are”. She opened the book at the back and started to scan the index.
“V- Vultures, no…T – Tigers, no”. She looked at the spidling, “I don’t like tigers, do you” she asked.
The spidling looked back at her. “ I don’t know, I have never seen one”.
“Right, here we are S- Spiders, that’s what you are. Here now, pages 167-185, wow, quite a lot
you must have quite a big family…..Oh, sorry”.
The baby spider hadn’t heard though. She was too busy looking at the picture on page 168.
“That’s a Goliath spider. I don’t think that you’re one of those”.
“Me either” squeaked the spidling.
As ‘Little Em’ flicked through the pages, one picture caught her eye. Page 181, Bird Eating spiders!
“Here you are”, said Emily excitedly. “That’s you, a Bird Eating spider”.
“Oh”, said the baby, “What’s a bird”?
Emily flicked to another page to find a suitable picture to show to the spider.
“That’s a bird” She said, pointing to a picture of a bird.
“And I’m a Bird Eating spider” said the baby spider cautiously.
“Well, yes. But you can eat other stuff too…., anyway, now we know what you are we can sort out a name for you”.
“What’s your name”? asked the spider.
“My name is Emily, but my daddy calls me ‘Little Em’”.
“That’s a nice name” said the little spider.
“Thank you. Now what shall we call you”?
“How about Emily”? said the spidling.
“I don’t think that would work” said ‘Little Em’. Now let’s see, you are a Bird Eating spider, so how about Beryl? No, I don’t like that. What about Bryony? No, that’s a bit weird. I know” she said, and started to write down the first letter of each word….Bird Eating Spider…..BES.
“How’s that”? she exclaimed, holding up the paper.
“How’s what”? said the spider.
The little spider looked around the corner of the paper. “I can’t read” she said.
“Oh, sorry” said Emily “it says BES, for Bird Eating Spider”. “And my best friend”.
“Thank you” said Bes, “I like it”.
Chapter 7 – The Letter.
That night, after tea, Emily took Bes a small bowl of milk, which Bes promptly fell into and ‘Little Em’ had to fish her out.
“Well, that was pointless” she said. “We better find you something else to eat”.
“Ok” came the milky reply.
After a few cookie crumbs Bes crawled on to Emily’s pillow and asked sadly “Do I have a daddy”?
Emily was staring at the ceiling looking at the lines and counting the cracks. “I suppose so” she said.
“Can we go and see him”? asked Bes.
“Well, I don’t know where he might be”. Emily sat up now and Bes crawled into her palm. They both looked at each other and then fell easily asleep.
Next morning, Emily woke up and looked around for Bes.
“Over here”, came the tiny little voice, “on the window sill”.
Emily went over to the window sill and there was Bes, enjoying a few flies that she had found. Emily looked out of the window and noticed a small bird watching them. It was sitting on the hand rail of the veranda.
“Good morning bird” said Emily friendly. The little blue and green bird chirped and flew away.
“Bes”, said Emily, “you know last night, you said that you would like to find your dad”?
Bes looked up at Emily.
“Well, I’ve been thinking…..why don’t we go? I mean…he can’t be too far away can he? And anyway, we can just take some food and water and just, well, go and have a little look”?