Smashing the Spider

Alyssa, my adorable daughter, is an arachnophobic which means she hates and is terrified of spiders. I hate all bugs and most especially things that run fast with lots of legs. Spiders are definitely included in that description.

I was in Alyssa’s room with Bella (Alyssa wasn’t home) and I saw a spider about the size of a quarter run across the connecting bathroom’s floor. Bella, obviously more a princess than a hunter, just sat and watched it run. I immediately grabbed a shoe and started trying to smoosh it.

I couldn’t hit it!

The next thing I knew, the spider was traveling to the edge of the floor where it meets the wall and was quickly making a bee-line towards the door that leads to Alyssa’s bedroom. No matter how I tried, the spider was too fast for me to hit.

As it sped out the door, I gave one whack and totally missed it. The spider answered my miss by swiftly running under Alyssa’s bed and disappearing like Houdini.

I was so distraught.

I sent Alyssa a text message trying to explain to her what had happened and that she needed to find and kill the spider as soon as she got home.

Hours later, Alyssa got home and could not find the spider—much to my dismay. I truly hate bugs and did not understand why Alyssa was so unaffected this time by a spider!

Bedtime came and the spider was as elusive as Bigfoot, but Alyssa hopped right in her bed. Before long and without any bother, she was exploring dream land.

The next day, I went into Alyssa’s room and she calmly said, “Mom, the spider’s on the ceiling, but I am too short to reach it.”

“Get the Windex and spray it on spider, but make sure you cover your bed with a big sheet first so you can see where it lands.” I was almost gleeful at the prospect of this dead spider. I grabbed Bella and we left the dirty work for Alyssa.

A short time later, Alyssa walked into the living room to explain that she “caught” the spider as it fell dying because of the Windex attack. Then she showed me the handy device she used to help rid her room of the spider. From now on, I am going to call Alyssa the Spider Smasher and maybe I should market her Spider Smashing/Catching tool.

Contemplating Alyssa’s inventive/entrepreneurial spirit, she starts out with the macrame bracelets (making money), then the Flower Tail Pinchen (making an A+ at school), and now she is inventing very colorful spider elimination/extermination tools. Alyssa is my Albert Einstein with an artist flair!