Chapter 12
Praise of Many the Fear of Some
Showing off Aurelio
“Samira, Samira!” Jordi tugged at the flowing jacket of Bonito’s business guest. “Look at that!” He pointed to the web on the fireplace facade.
“Looks like you haven’t been cleaning well, Jordi. Better climb up there and take care of those webs.”
“No! That’s not what I meant,” he said, hands akimbo. “Daddy’s pet. He says that it’s his little star. Turn off the lights and I’ll get a flashlight!”
“I’ll get the lights,” smiled Bonito with pride.
“What’s he going to show me?” asked Samira. “You really should be cleaning better. Where’s that Estel of yours?”
“Oh, she stays away from that area.”
“I can see that! What a mess! Tattered cobwebs and dust.”
“No, I mean that I tell her not to. Just look and see why.”
Jordi bounded in like a rabbit marching with a rifle. He turned on the flashlight waving the beam back and forth.
“Now look closely, Samira, just watch. Jordi, move slowly with the light. This is my Aurelio. Isn’t he beautiful?”
The light caught Aurelio and bounced off in sharp gemstone reflections radiating out along the wall.
“Indeed, friend, indeed! It is like a diamond. Or a ruby. No, I see emerald.”
“He is a rainbow jewel, is he not? Now look out at the walls. Do you see how he reflects light onto the dark stone, shining like cuts and facets?”
Aurelio loved the praise, turning his abdomen he opened up the shiny plates increasing the reflection.
She stepped up on the chair and leaned in closer, “He’s like a star field, beyond compare.”
“Don’t you think that if this little fragile creature can create such beauty in a dark corner, that we can figure out a contract?”
“What is he?” she ignored his attempt at business.
“He’s a spider. A mirror spider from Australia.”
She jumped down from the chair, “A spider? You keep calling him small, but he’s huge! I’ve never seen a spider that big!”
“No worries, my friend. He never comes down from there. He’s my pet and we take very good care of him.”
“I get to feed him!” Jordi jumped up and down. “He likes flies and big bugs. He doesn’t eat fruit flies anymore, and I don’t think he likes worms.”
Samira laughed and Bonito rubbed his head.
“Now look, Samira, look at me. Look over here. Look at what I made.” He ran past the pillars over to the dining area, pulling her hand. In this former throne room, the stone wall had a series of steps built into it up from the floor. There was a jumble of candelabras piled on the floor off to the side, and in their place on each step was a ball, some as small as marbles on up to the size of a beach ball. Jordi had papier-mâché each ball and painted them in grey, yellow, red, blue and green, orange-tans, or light blues according to the planets’ true colors. “Here’s earth! We live right here,” he picked up a medium ball and pointed to a green spot. “That little one is Mercury, and there’s Jupiter! Do you like them?”
“Oh, I do! Very much. You did a nice job. But where’s the sun?”
“I didn’t make it. I made these to scale, and the sun would fill this whole room. Daddy said that was too big, and that I should just pretend.”
Samira had a big smile and was chuckling.
“He’s a smart boy, I say!” beamed Bonito.
Aurelio had followed them, clinging along the corners. He quickly came down through the door, then went back up onto the window ledge out of sight. As he watched Jordi get praise and attention, anger and jealousy were sparked. There is little thought in jealousy, just gut reactions, and Aurelio’s gut was churning. Driven by emotion, he lowered a sticky line down to the nearest planet, which was the largest one. He pulled it up as he climbed out to the chandelier.
“Oh look! Your planet is flying!” said Samira.
Jordi spun around and gasped, “No, Aurelio Be careful!”
“Looks like he wants to put your planets into orbit, maybe we can have him hang them up and put my candelabras back,” said Bonito.
“Daddy, tell him to put it down,” Jordi whined.
Papier-mâché makes an undramatic thud when it hits the ground, but it is still fragile/ Down Jupiter came and cracked into two jagged chunks, one side with a big dent in it. Paint flaked off onto the glossy smooth tile.
“Daddy! He did that on purpose,” wailed Jordi as he ran to pick up the pieces.
“That’s silly, Jordi. How could he? He’s just a spider.”
“He bites me, he breaks my stuff! And he’s always behind me where I can’t see him. Who else does he do stuff to, but me!” Jordi stomped out of the room
Aurelio casually stroked his pedipalps and fangs with his front legs with the rhythm of a violin player. It made him look quite pleased with himself. He was thinking of how he was truly noticed by someone other than Bonito, and that Estel was admonished to stay away from his corner. Though, his web had not seemed loose to him, and he took that criticism to heart. Back in the great room, he dismantled his web, and carefully pulled the first line taught from the top of the window to the side. From the middle of the line, he attached a second line and pulled that as hard as he could, attaching it to the corner of the window. That pulled the first line even tighter, to its limit. Each line was pulled as tight as he could make it, and his web was stiff and inflexible.
Aurelio was uncomfortable sitting on the unyielding strings, unable to feel the slight movement from the breeze. He was uncomfortable thinking about Jordi taking attention away from him. Even though he wasn’t hungry, he kept one leg on his trip line to the trap in the chandelier just for comfort. Maybe something would come along that he could kill for sport to help make him feel better.
The next day, Samira wandered to see Aurelio. A shaft of morning light lay across his web, and seeing her, Aurelio moved into the light. “Is it possible that he is even more beautiful than before? What did you call him?”
“Aurelio. It means ‘golden’, because he is precious. I found him in the jungle and carried him back here. He seems to enjoy this corner, and has set up an elaborate home for himself.” Bonito pointed out the chandelier, the dining room on the capital, and the ultra tight web in the window.
“He web is a delight of organization today,” replied Samira.
Aurelio puffed himself up with pride; the light danced across the wall onto the ceiling.
“Oh, my!” exclaimed Samira. “It’s as if he’s dancing for me. Does he understand our words?”
Bonito didn’t answer, rather he tilted his head and bent closer to Aurelio’s face to see if there was any indication of recognition. “Back to business, Samira, we have a lot to do.”
“Indeed!” she exclaimed, as they returned back to their table strewn with papers and diagrams. As they leaned over their papers, she commented, “I’m sorry that Jupiter was ruined. It was all so impressive. You should get him a telescope.”
Growth of size and pride
exceeding the size of his ancestors. And being in the constant company of his new master he learned a lot. He learned how beautiful his was from all the praise of the visitors to King Bonito.
Many other guests came to the castle, some for business, some because they heard of this extraordinary creature. They would look closely as Aurelio with amazement on their faces and say things like, “Gorgeous!”, “A fine specimen!”, “Where ever did you find such a creature?”, “May I touch him, is he dangerous?” To which Bonito always said, “No, do not touch him, he is precious.”
Aurelio would puff up his abdomen, shining his mirrors even more brightly when he heard the words of praise. He enjoyed the musicality of their voices as they oohed and ahhed at his light show. If Aurelio was asleep when a guest came, the Bonito would call up to him with this chant: Shine, Aurelio, shine! Show us your fame, give us your light! Then Aurelio would stir, turn to look at who was there, and if they were smiling and paying close attention he would find a beam of light and puff his abdomen. If they looked disinterested, he would continue turning as if he were a dog just spinning in its bed. Bonito would call again until Aurelio performed.
“I swear that he understands me,” Bonito would say. And he wondered, as it appeared that Aurelio would come to make an appearance before his guests, and that he showed himself all the more brightly with the more praise that he received.
Bonito’s love for Aurelio grew with the pride he held in showing off this fine specimen. Each day he would climb the ladder that they kept permanently in the corner, and check his nest carefully to make sure it was in good repair, that there was a fresh catch for Aurelio to eat, and that the last day’s meal was cleaned away. Aurelio had plenty to eat with all of the flies, and wasps, and bees.
But Bonito didn’t like him to catch the bees, not even the carpenter bees which were bigger and juicier in Aurelio’s opinion. “Bees are good insects. Do not eat them. We need them for our flowers,” Bonito would admonish him. And Bonito wondered at the fact that he didn’t see another bee caught, but could see where the web had been cut carefully and neatly in certain places. There were holes left where a bee may have been caught. Certainly, there were no bee carcasses to be found. They found those of beetles, wasps, and best of those ever present Mediterranean cockroaches.
Aurelio’s diet was like a king’s feast, and he continued to grow beyond his design. He grew in size, and in beauty, and in pride as each day there would be a visitor who came to see him and wonder at his long star-ray legs, and his bedazzled abdomens that shined with rainbow colors, and at just the right angle even reflected the face of the one looking at him. They would laugh to see their faces colored and slightly distorted by the curves of his mirrors. Some facets would make them long, others pinched and short like a carnival mirror. Each one was amazing. Aurelio would slowly turn his abdomen to give each person the full affect. He loved the praise and attention.
Prey changes, practices on people
As the years passed, he continued to grow and his diet changed. The small insects were of no interest to him, the large ones were no longer enough for him. So, in service to Bonito he took to eating the mice, then even the rats that scurried through the castle. It took some skill for Aurelio to learn to catch rodents, because they didn’t just fly into his web. He had to set traps by their holes and nighttime paths. Bonito thought he heard Aurelio chanting, “This will be your downfall, this will be your end, you will be a juicy meal,” as he spun a trap by a small hole in the wall. Bonito watched as Aurelio studied the hole. It appeared that Aurelio was just sitting, but he sat very close to the hole, facing it and keeping perfectly still for hours. At this time of the evening, Aurelio wouldn’t prance or spin for the guests. He was hungry, and wanted his rodent. But he still enjoyed the praise, and when they shone a light on him he would still puff up his abdomen in pride. He puffed up very slowly so as not to make a movement that would startle his prey.
Bonito studied him closely with amazement for his beautiful pet. He was like a star that climbed the walls or swung down to the floor gracefully. Yet he was considered with pause as Aurelio swung down to the floor with a flourish mixed in with gracefulness. There seemed to be a showman’s attitude in that flourish, that Aurelio was intentionally looking for praise. The more praise he got, the more he puffed up his abdomen. Bonito watched as he would swing it more into the light, and twist slightly to reveal the shifting rainbow effect. Aurelio also seemed to know how to make his glassy legs disappear in the shadows, or against the broken light of the stained glass windows.
As their attention moved on to other things, Aurelio would conceal his shiny plates as much as possible. He would then climb down the side of the fire place, around the floor along the wall to the back of the sofa. He could climb up the leg of the sofa table quite quickly, and creep amongst the shiny vases and ornaments decorating the table. Then an unexpecting guest would feel a little tickle on their neck, or if he was feeling very bold he would creep down to the sofa arm and then crawl onto their resting hand.
The guest would jump and give out a startled giggle if they were trying to hide their fear, or just shout in fear and disgust. While they danced and shook their hands in the air as if they were still trying to shake off the spider, Bonito would pick up Aurelio. He would chuckle a little to appease his guest and let them know it was just a playful trick. However, Bonito also pondered what could be the true intent of these gestures. Aurelio’s gestures were the same; he would curl his legs up to pounce in the same way for guests or rats. Sometimes Aurelio would attach some sticky web to a person’s neck or hand.
Aurelio’s hunting skills had to change with his prey. Rats learn quickly, and knew that certain holes were a path to death. So he had to hide himself better, laying his body close against the wall, and legs outstretched in the shadows. When a rat would emerge there was no trap, but he would feel a little tap from Aurelio’s outstretched leg that sent him in a fright, scurrying along the wall right into a smooth web that quickly became sticky. Or he held a sticky web stretched between his legs, which was popped down on top of the mouse or rat. The web held the rat tight against the floor, subdued and ready for the quick bite of poison before he was wrapped up. He also started to pop this small web on top of people’s hands, and if he was fast enough he would also start running more line around their hand and wrist.
Jordi had his friends visiting, as they started to arrive Aurelio crept to the other side of the room and positioned himself against the stained glass window. He reflected the colors making him invisible against the faceted glass. They gathered together on the sofa, a group of 5 in the space made for 3, a few sitting on the floor. Arms were tucked in here and there as they squished together, one of Jordi’s stretched out along the back of the sofa.
Aurelio, now about the size of a cat, slowly slunk down right behind Jordi’s arm, and around his sleeve started to wind his web. Timing his movements with those of the teens, Aurelio would wind another strand right when someone moved or brushed against Jordi. It wasn’t hard for Aurelio to go unnoticed as the kids were a wiggly bunch, laughing and poking each other.
When Aurelio had Jordi secured, he crept over to Sara who was sitting next to Jordi. Bridging the gap between the window, back legs clinging to the iron came, front legs on the back of the carved wood of the sofa, Aurelio reached out his front paw to tickle Sara. He tapped lightly, which brought her hand up to wave behind her, then she felt along her neck for a cause. Aurelio tucked down just in time to miss being hit, then he reached out again. This time he stroked her neck starting at the hairline, down to her shirt.
“Stop it,” she said to Jordi, and punched his leg.
“Stop what?”
Aurelio reached out again, getting bolder he used his two front paws and made a little tapping rhythm down her neck.
She reached back for Jordi’s arm, put her face in his and said firmly, “Stop! I told you to stop!”
“I’m not doing anything. What are you talking about?”
Sara sat up straight and turned around, which put Aurelio square in her face, just a few inches away. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened as wide as it could go as she screamed and jumped up. The others jumped with her. Jordi, also seeing Aurelio tried to stand and grab for him at the same time, but his arm was strapped down.
He jumped up but was jerked back by his hand being firmly attached to the sofa. His hips kept moving, while his upper body was held back. The soda in his other hand went flying out of the glass onto his guests, and in anger he threw the glass at Aurelio.
The glass missed Aurelio, instead flying into the carved wood, shattering, and spraying glass onto the spider. A sliver went into one of Aurelio’s large eyes.
Aurelio screamed in pain, “You ball burner! Mellon headed, hole of the arse!” He employed some of his legs to scrambling back up the window, while trying to clean his eye with the front two. His movement, albeit fast, was jerky and unsteady.
“What the? You talk?” blurted Jordi.
Jordi’s friends were a flurry of arms and legs moving into the center of the room, with shouts and screams.
“What the hell was that?” demanded Eric.
“It touched me,” cried Sara.
“I was right next to you,” whined Abril, “he could have touched me too.”
Hearing the commotion, Bonito and Carmela came running into the room.
“What’s going on?” asked Bonito.
“That spider is torturing me and my friends,” yelled Jordi as he was peeling away the web, “See this! He strapped down my arm!”
“Where is he? Where is he?” screamed Carmela.
“Nobody move! Don’t step on him,” yelled Bonito.
The girls hugged each other, pawing through each other’s hair to make sure there was nothing hiding. The boys circled around as if they were great hunters looking for a wolf.
“Dad, he swears! I heard him talk.”
Bonito stopped his searching and looked at Jordi, “Whatever do you mean? He talks?”
“He’s like a foul mouthed parrot. He swore at me when I hit him with the glass.”
“You hit him? Is he OK? Where is he,” Bonito said to no one in particular. “Find him. I need to make sure he’s not hurt.”
“Are you listening to me? He can talk.”
Bonito tiptoed around looking for Aurelio. He was afraid that Aurelio might be knocked out, but Aurelio had understood his danger and quickly climbed the guideline that he kept attached to the ceiling for emergencies. Aurelio was running upside down mid-air above the sofa along his planned escape route. Bonito knew that Aurelio could not have come down this way as he would have been seen, so he tried to trace with his eye the path that Aurelio could have taken from the fireplace to the sofa, guideline attached, without getting tangled. The line of web that remained traced a complicated trail, along which there was a taut line pulled that led straight back to the top of the fireplace facade from the top of the window.
“Company, company (footnote: similar to guys),” called out Jordi, “I’m sorry. Lets go down to the cafe.”
They all jumped at this suggestion, and started to gather their things. The girls carefully lifted their purses unsure if there might be something else hiding in there.
“He’s gross,” mewed Abril.
“I don’t think I’ll ever come here again,” said Sara, “Sorry Jordi. You have a fun house, except for that thing.”
“Dad, I’ll be back later,” frowned Jordi as his friends filed out in front of him. “Aurelio is a menace.”
“My little friend,” Bonito called Aurelio that even though he grown so much, “You must behave. You cannot be playing these tricks on our guests. I’m glad you haven’t bitten anyone again, that would be a terrible thing.” Then with his finger wagging, “You must not bite. That is very bad. And you must not throw webs on people. They don’t like that. Do you understand?”
Bonito didn’t expect a response from Aurelio even after what Jordi said, but Aurelio did understand. He clung to the wall and with his front leg he stroked his fangs thoughtfully, as if he were a professor smoking his pipe and considering great philosophy.
“I would swear that you know what I’m saying. Look at your face; you look so intelligent. But that is silly of me, you’re just a spider. Imagine how terrifying you’d be to my guests if they thought you could understand—they would feel like you were hunting them with your little web games. Now come here and let me see you.” Bonito rubbed his fingers together, a gesture he often made when bringing Aurelio food.
Aurelio climbed down to Bonito and sat still. Bonito wondered if this response was a trained response, that Aurelio was expecting food, or if he really understood what was said.
“Ah, your eye is badly hurt, but it looks like it’s not bleeding.” There was a small black gash across the eye which fogged the normal shine, but the glass had been rubbed out. “You will be fine, I think.”
Aurelio turned around and climbed up the wall to the crown of the fireplace facade. He tucked himself in the bowl between the carved stone fleur-de-lys and the wall. He lazily rested his front leg on his trip line out of habit, knowing that he shouldn’t do any hunting when Bonito was in this mood and watching him more closely.
The remains of the rodents becomes disgusting
He had overheard the squeamish comments of the cleaning staff, and knew that his eating habits were becoming repulsive to him.
He particularly disliked it when they compared him to a bug, and wanted to squish him, except that they thought he was too big now and would make too much of a mess that they’d have to clean up.
He felt his trip line jerk hard, then as whatever creature he caught got more tangled it turned into a pulsing vibration. The pulses became less frequent, with occasional violent tugs; a feeling that Aurelio enjoyed and caused his digestive fluids to start flowing like Pavlov’s dogs. He let his venom drip and his mouth drool into a congealed puddle, and fell asleep dreaming of catching Samira for dinner instead.
Bonito came back into the room later to hear squeaking behind his console. It was a heavy piece of oak furniture that took him lifting while shoving with his leg to get it to move out from the wall. He peeked behind it to find a large rat wound up in sticky web. At seeing Bonito, it started squeezing and writhing desperately.
Bonito stepped back in alarm, and tried to think with his arms waving in the air as different options came to him. He eventually grabbed the leather glove for the fireplace and tried to pick up the rat. It bit deep into the glove, yet remained stuck in the trap as it continued to try to twist its way out. Now the glove was stuck in the web half wrapped around the rat.
“You nasty little intruder! You don’t belong in my home in the first place,” then to himself, “I really need to get that old cistern filled in. You and your family probably all live very happily there, until you’re hunger and come in here. And now look at you. Got what you deserve.”
Bonito contemplated leaving the rat for Aurelio to come and get, but the rodent kept squeezing and that would upset Carmella. And Jordi would want to see it, and that would create more havoc. Bonito looked around for Aurelio, but didn’t see him, then he looked back at the rat. He resolved to go get his hammer and dispatch the animal.
“You just wait there,” he said to the rat, “I’m coming back with my hammer and will put you out of your misery. And out of my misery too!”
Bonito was gone for over 5 minutes as he trudged down and around to the other side of the castle where his workshop was. He returned to find the rat gone, the glove laying on top of the table, and the web cleaned up.
“Estel! Estel!” he called out. Heading toward the kitchen, “Estel! Are you in there?”
“Coming, Señior. Here I am.”
“Estel, did you clean up the rat behind the console?”
Gasping with her hand clutching her chest, “No, my no! A rat? How big was it? I haven’t seen rats. I keep a clean house. NO RATS! Señior, no rats!”
“It was big. It was caught in a web back there,” he pointed, “I was going to kill it and now it’s gone.”
“Where is it? Where did it go?” She stopped and looked up into all the corners of the room, “It’s that evil pet you brought in here.”
“Evil? What would you call him evil? He’s just a spider, an absolutely beautiful creation.”
“He watches me when I cook. I don’t know if he wants the scraps of meat or me.”
“He goes into the kitchen?”
“Yes, whenever you’re gone, that is where he goes. I tried to shoo him out with the broom, but he just clung to it and started to climb down it towards me. I dropped it and ran out of the room screaming. When I told Señiora Carmela she came running, but he was gone. He was just sitting up there,” she pointed at the fireplace, “as if nothing had happened. Just my broom was laying in the middle of the floor.”
“I don’t think he’s looking at you. Probably just the meat. Maybe we should try leaving some out for him in a bowl. And then he won’t have to hunt the rats. Though, as I say that I don’t want the rats in here either.”
Estel looked at him suspiciously, “If you say so, I will leave out some meat. I don’t think spiders like things that are already dead.”
“Come, let's clean up behind the console.”
They walked over with the broom and some rags. Estel looked behind the console and covered her mouth as if she were going to wretch. “I’ll be right back,” she called behind her as she ran back to the kitchen. Returning with a cloth tied over her face, and a trash can lined with three bags, she grabbed the broom. “This isn’t natural, Señior. Not right.”
There was a pile of bones and bits of hairy skin hidden under the console, little streaks in the dust that made it look like they had just been pushed back there to keep them from being seen after the console had been moved. Bonito pushed the console out again so that it had been pushed far enough to see fully underneath it. Estel took the broom and brushed under it, looking for any bits that may have been stuck to the console itself. Bits of web and tattered flesh clung to the broom. It all had the smell of dusty with sour. The animal parts were all dried out, so the smell was faint but still repulsive.
Bonito took the fire poker and pushed the bits about. The bones were of varying sizes, possibly of mouse and rat, and one other larger set that he was unsure of. The skull was gone, so he had little to base his guesses on.
“I think we had better do a thorough cleaning of this room, Estel. From ceiling to every crack, corner, and under every piece of furniture.”
Estel’s face pinched into a foul frown, “I don’t know who you think is going to do that, Señior, but with all due respect it won’t be me!” She stamped the broom down.
“I understand. You’re right. I’ll hire a crew.”
He called some maid service companies, but when they heard what the job was they refused. One of them even made the comment, “Oh, the spider house.” He was surprised that they had a reputation. He finally found Eco-septic, a cleaning company that also took care of infestations. Bonito hoped that they would not be repulsed by any animal remains that they found.
To the cleaners, “I need you to take care of cleaning every crevice and setting bait out for the rodents. No traps! And the bait must be outside, by the cistern is where I think the rats are.” He insisted on no traps, being afraid Aurelio could get caught and killed. To Estel, “Put out meat for Aurelio tonight. He’ll be in my room until this place is cleaned.” And to Carmela, “He’ll just be in here for one day, until the living room is cleaned. I can’t leave him in there, and then have to explain that he’s not infesting the house, that he’s a pet. We’ll be fine with him right here.” He put Aurelio on top of their armoire.
Bonito got called back to the room within the hour by Iker, “Uh, sir, I need to show you something. You’ve got something living in here, I don’t know what, but it’s leaving these dead animals around. I need you to look at this.” He led Bonito to the ladders they had placed next to each other but the tall glass china cabinet and they both climbed up. Iker continued, “See here.” He poked at a flattened sack with his screwdriver intentending to show how it was full of liquid, but mistakenly pierced the sack. A foul stench of petrified meat assaulted them. Bonito coughed and instantly started climbing back down.
Iker, with his cleaning gear on, quickly replaced his mask and called for a bag and dustpan from his crew mate. He carefully scooped under the sack with the bag pulled taut by his partner, and flipped the carcass into the bag like a half baked pancake.
Bonito caught a second whiff, and covered his mouth and nose with his undershirt pulled up from under his dress shirt. This didn’t help enough, so he quickly backed away to the open window. “What is that?”
“Dead animal, sir,” replied Iker. “But it’s been dead for a while, and all wrapped up like a nasty sandwich that someone forgot on a hot summer’s day, for a year. The real question is, how did it get here? You got something else nasty living in here, and I aim to get it!”
“Just do the clean up, and set the bait,” insisted Bonito, “I just want to be rid of the rodents.”
Iker cocked his head in disbelief, “You’re the boss, sir. But I’m still gonna try and find this thing.”
Bonito was relieved that he had already moved Aurelio to the other room.
After they were done, the head of the cleaning crew brought him the bill, “Sir, you have quite the weird infestation there. Normally we find droppings as evidence of the mice or rats, but you’ve just got the dead animals instead. Well, really what’s been left of them. Something's been eating all these rodents, and I think there was a cat too. Can’t imagine what that would be eating a cat, but it’s got to be big. Do you have a dog?”
“Yes, but he’s well fed, wouldn’t be hungry enough to eat these animals. And usually stays in this part of the house.”
“No, no. I don’t mean that your dog did this. I’m afraid for your dog. I didn’t want to show you this, I don’t want to scare you.”
“Show me what? You keep talking in circles and never quite getting to the point.”
“This,” Iker held out a box with one of Aurelio’s shed skins in it.
“Ohh,” Bonito said in recognition, then tried to sound in shock, “OOhhhh!”
“I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, I’ve seen spider skins before, but nothing this big. I don’t know what kind he is, but this could be your menace.”
“Oh, yeah yeah, sure. It could be anything,” Bonito waved him.
“Are you sure you don’t want me setting some traps in here? We’ve cleaned up that thing’s mess, the sticky bits and parts that we could scrape off. There are a lot of stains left, especially on the top of your furniture where it’s not finished. They’re clean, but ugly. And that thing is probably still around. I looked. We all looked everywhere. Though, maybe it’ll move on because we’re taking care of it’s food supply with all the poison we put about.”
“You didn’t put any poison inside the house, did you?” Bonito replied in alarm.
“Just the kitchen. If you don’t treat in there, you might as well not bother at all. They go where they eat, the rats do, that is. This other thing seems to eat anywhere.”
“I suppose poison in the kitchen will be fine.”
“Sir, I sure hope it’s fine. You won’t let me do all that I think I should to take care of this….this….infestation. Really is strange, sir. Never seen anything like it. And the cobwebs. Never seen so many cobwebs. If I were writing a horror movie I’d imagine a big hairy spider with lots of eyes, and big long fangs. It’d be hunting everything, and then whammo! It starts eating babies. And it’s living right here, all innocent like, right in your living room.” Iker wiggled his fingers in and out of Bonito’s face.
Bonito laughed nervously, “Oh, that’s so funny. I’m sure we don’t have a horror movie happening in my own living room. Where’s the dumb sucker that always gets eaten first?”
Iker looked around, patted himself, then snatched the check out of Bonito’s hand.
“Thank you, thank you. Your services are much appreciated,” Bonito said with his hand on Iker’s back, herding him out of the house. On his way back he massaged his forehead with his finger tips and wondered about Aurelio. ‘The meat should do the trick,’ he thought, ‘Hopefully no more mess, and no more carcasses.’
“Estel,” he called as he returned to the kitchen, “meat’s on the menu for Aurelio, and let’s start with a small steak. And I think that will take care of our cleaning problem, but I’d like you to dust up high more often. I’ll buy you one of those dusters with the long telescoping handle.”
“Thank you, Señior,” Estel kept her back to Bonito as she chopped the onion more fiercely, “I’ll be sure to do that.” Her heart started pounding at the thought of reaching up to Aurelio again. A longer stick didn’t seem any safer to her, just another opportunity for Aurelio to come after her.
Trying to feed Aurelio, he finds his own food
Estel prepared a small raw steak, putting it into a shallow bowl. “Here you go, Señior.”
“Can you take it to him, please? I’m quite busy right now.”
“Oh, no! I cannot,” Estel shook her head and waved her hands back and forth wildly.
“OK, OK. I’ll take it in a little while. Leave it here,” Bonito pointed to the corner of his desk.
Carmela wandered in, “What’s this? Are you starting a strange breakfast diet?”
“No, it’s for Aurelio. You missed the mess we cleaned up yesterday.”
“Can’t say that I’m sorry I wasn’t home. Estel told me all about it. My dear, this is quite disgusting. And what happened to Jordi with his friends over…I’m not so sure about keeping Aurelio like this.”
“I’ve got it, I’ve got it. We’ll feed him with this meat, no more mess, no more hunting. He’ll have a sweet cushy life. And Estel will dust for cobwebs more often. See here, I found a duster that reaches 6 meters! That’ll make her job much easier.”
Carmela sighed, “Go now! I’m not convinced. Believe you me, I’m not bringing my girlfriends here anymore.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. He really is a sweet pet, we just need to figure out how to take care of him the best way.”
She nodded her head unconvinced, “Right.”
Bonito reached out and held her hand in between his, “Don’t worry, my dear. I’m taking care of it.”
He got up and walked with the bowl over to the living room. Bonito had bought a simple knotty pine wood cat tree for Aurelio. It was constructed of a series of hexagon boxes attached diagonally to each other, which zigzagged up 2 meters high. There were large holes drilled between each box creating a path for a cat to climb back and forth through, but Bonito just wanted a high platform. On top was a flat area where Bonito placed the bowl of meat.
“Aurelio,” he called, “here’s your breakfast. Yummy yummy steak. Come and eat.”
Aurelio muttered to himself, “Why does he think I’ll eat that? Putrid dead meat!”
“What’s that noise you’re making up there, Aurelio? Can you talk?” Bonito laughed, “That would be a sight! My shining star that can also talk? People would come from all around.”
Carmela had followed Bonito in without him realizing it, so he jumped when she said, “That wouldn’t amaze people. They would say you’re like a goat and lock you up someplace safe. He’s already scary enough. Look at how big he’s gotten! That would make him more frightening.”
“You’re probably right,” Bonito wagged his head. “Come eat, Aurelio. Yummy, yummy.”
They walked out holding hands, but Carmela kept an eye out behind her.
Aurelio knew that he would have to hide the fact that he understood them, that he could have spoken back to them. He knew from all the TV that they watched that when people are afraid of something they often kill it.
He went down to investigate the bowl of steak. He touched the meat with his pedipalp and tasted it. He tried to inject it with digestive juices, but that churned his stomach in disgust. He needed to find his own food somewhere. But where, he wondered.
The door into the courtyard was usually left open, so he climbed over there and went out into the sun. His fractured rainbow reflection shone all around him into the shadows of the balcony. In alarm of being caught he jumped into the shadow. He knew his hunting should be clandestine, that his prey be kept secret and out of sight or else their disgust increase and he lose his home.
Finding prey was easier than he thought. There were birds out here, and plenty of rodents. Down by the chicken coop were plenty of rodents, which he knew he liked, and chickens, which he was willing to try.
Aurelio took to wandering around the grounds, and dared to explore different parts of the house. He had already seen Bonito and Carmela’s room when the cleaning crew had come, so he was able to trace his way back there again. He found Jordi’s room, and Estel’s room on the far side from the living quarter. The garbage bin area outside of the kitchen was a favorite haunt of his, and was where he caught most of his meals.
Aurelio cleverly hid webs in the trees, on the fence around the garbage bins, and around the coop. His eating habits changed, because he knew he needed to be in the living room when the afternoon sun shone in, and Bonito wanted to show him off. Aurelio didn’t want to give cause for suspension, and more so did not want to miss the opportunity to be praised and ogled at. So he hunted early in the morning, before most everyone was awake.
“You’re not eating anything,” Bonito said to the spider. “We’ve tried steak, we’ve tried fish. I’ve dangled it from your web, I’ve thrown bits into your web, I’ve held it out to you in my hand. I don’t want you wasting away.”
Aurelio climbed down closer and sat on two of the heads of the carved figures of the fireplace facade.
“Look at you.” Bonito pursed his lips, “you’re so dull. Where’s your beautiful shimmer and shine? I’d be so grieved if my little star were to go out.”
Aurelio waved his legs as if to say, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, my friend.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
Jordi, who was lounging on the sofa, legs splayed out over the armrest, piped in, “I wouldn’t worry, Dad. I see him wandering all over the place.”
Bonito turned around, “You have? Where?”
“He goes out by the courtyard, and sometimes by the garbage. Startled me to death when I took the garbage out for Estel. She refused to go out there, and then I knew why.”
“Hmm, then maybe he’s still eating rodents. He just has to go outside to find them.”
“I saw him wandering around the house too, once. He followed you and mom into your room one night.”
“He did? And you didn’t say anything?”
Jordi shrugged, “I figured you were just taking him in there with you again. Maybe he makes a good night light.”
Bonito chucked, “I suppose he might.” But he wondered what purpose Aurelio had in following them.
This conversation made Aurelio angry. His secret movements were now exposed. He wanted to get back at Jordi, but he was feeling so tired as he was getting ready to molt. Aurelio knew that he needed to save up his energy for this, and that Jordi would have to wait. Or would he, Aurelio wondered.
As the evening dusk arrived, Aurelio made his way through the practiced path of following the courtyard shadows. He passed through the cracked window that led to the hallway, then across into Jordi’s room. He knew there was a cozy space on top of the armoire where he could hide and molt.
It was dark when he rolled over onto his back, and cracked open the top of his fore body. The shell opened up like the hood of a car as Aurelio puffed up his back and started to squeeze his way out. He pulsed and puffed, and shimmied his way out over the course of hours. The larger he got the longer it took to extricate himself, and it was nearly morning by the time he was laying on his side like a naked baby. Already translucent, in this fresh shell he was clear to milky white, his shiny patches looked filmed over. He lay on his side, legs folded together sticking straight out as his body automatically inflated itself to stretch out the new and still soft shell.
Jordi was up and about before Aurelio was feeling himself again. But now Aurelio had what he wanted: his exoskeleton in Jordi’s room. He waited and rested until the night, when Jordi returned to go to sleep. Then he carefully dropped it down onto Jordi’s bed, about a foot from his hand and gently attached the other end of his web to the back of Jordi’s hand. Back on top of the Armoire and still tired from the molt, Aurelio fell asleep.
Jordi slept without moving for sometime. He was dreaming of pulling a weight, and about having to pee where there were no bathrooms. As he came out of the dream and realized that he really had to go to the bathroom, he started to stretch. Pulling his hand up brought the exoskeleton along, the leg tips catching and popping up as they dragged across the sheets. He felt the scuttled resistance and pulled his hand faster, which brought the exoskeleton up onto his face.
Jordi shouted in panic and flailed his arms around in defense. The spider kept jumping back and forth by his face, and hitting it with his other hand just sent it spinning around the axis of the web and back hitting Jordi right in the face. The feeling of the legs across his skin set Jordi into hysteria, whereby he let his bladder go as he was jumping out of bed. Pee was on his mattress, and running down his leg onto the rug.
Still shaking and waving his hands violently, the exoskeleton went flying off onto the lamp shade. Jordi flipped on the light, which backlit the exoskeleton and enlarged it to Jordi’s point of view. It now looked like Aurelio had doubled his size and was ready to jump. Jordi grabbed his tennis racket and smashed the lamp into the ground.
The exoskeleton flew off into the corner by the armoire. Just the luck that Aurelio needed as he watched the now sodden Jordi run from his room. Aurelio shot down, and pulled the exoskeleton back up on top of the armoire.
“Dad!” Jordi bellowed as he slogged down the hallway, leaving a wet trail. “Mom! Dad!” He banged on their door.
Bonito came to the door slowly as he was sound asleep. He followed his son while tying up his bathrobe, only half cognizant of what Jordi was shouting.
Jordi was in tears, “This is it! He’s made me mess myself, and my heart is pounding. I’ve had it! You’ve got to do something! He’s after me! Dad, look at this.”
Aurelio was fast, so fast that he impressed himself with how he was able to run out of the room after Jordi and hide himself in the shadows.
“He was right here, Dad! In my bed. He was hanging off of my hand.”
“I see you broke your lamp.” Bonito commented slowly, “I guess if you say he was here then he was in here. Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?”
Jordi inspected his bed and in the corners. “It wasn’t a dream! He’s got it out for me!”
“I don’t think so, my boy. Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know! How would I know what makes a spider want to do this or the other thing?”
“Come on. I’ll change your bed, you go wash off. We’ll go look for him in the morning.”
Carmella bumped into Jordi as he was going to the bathroom. “Ooh, what happened to you? What’s all this?” She looked at Jordi’s wet pants then down the hallway at the pee she had just walked through. “Gross!” Then she yelled the other direction, “Estel!”
Jordi huffed and rolled his eyes, then ranted to himself, “That damn spider! I swear he’s got it out for me. And dad doesn’t see it at all.”
Cleaned and in fresh pajamas, he returned to his room where Carmela and Estel were still cleaning up, brooms and mops in hand.
“Mom, you believe me, don’t you? Aurelio’s out to get me!”
“There’s something there. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel it.”
“I don’t go near that beast,” muttered Estel.
“See, she knows!”
“I’ll talk to your father,” she placed her hand on his shoulder and looked directly at him, “I believe you. Your father doesn’t think you’re lying, but...but”
“...but you should lock your doors!” interrupted Estel making devil horns on her head with her fingers.
“...but Aurelio’s just a spider. It doesn’t make sense.”
“No, I guess not. But,” he paused.
“But what?”
“Nothing, never mind. I’m going to sleep now.”
His thoughts swirled around these themes as he fell asleep. Mumbling to himself he said, “I know he understands what we’re saying,” and entered back into fitful dreams.
“I do,” whispered Aurelio, as he climbed down and very gently bit Jordi on the shoulder, injecting just the smallest amount of venom. He knew that the bite he had done years ago, when he was young and didn’t have control, was too much. This time, he just wanted to irritate.
Aurelio hid himself for the next week. He would hunt in the garden and coop areas, and took to sleeping in Bonito and Carmela’s room. Jordi, however, had a terrible itchy rash on his shoulder and down his arm. He was tortured by the itch and scratched himself to the point of bleeding.
“I know the spider did this,” he said to Carmela, “And Dad won’t listen.”
“I don’t see any bite marks. Wouldn’t there be a couple of red dots where he bit you?”
“How would I know? The last time he bit me was so bad, I was in so much pain, and everything was swollen. And there wasn’t any point in looking for bite marks—I saw him bite me then.” Jordi slapped his arm as hard as he could to ease the itch. If he scratched again he would tear off scabs. EDITING NOTE
“This is a very different reaction. Are you sure you didn’t get into some stinging nettle?”
“I’d see a bunch of scratches then.”
“It’s hard to see if there are any now. You’ve practically torn up your arm from the itching. Here, let me clean off your arm to start with.” Carmela dabbed at Jordi’s arm with a wet washcloth. He screamed in pain as it felt like hot needles were being stuck into his skin.
“I’m never getting a tattoo if it feels like this!” he yelled.
“Good,” she smiled, “Lets try an oatmeal bath, a cool one.
“How’s that going to work if the washcloth didn’t? Won’t it be worse?”
Jordi gingerly climbed into the bath, wearing his swimsuit. Carmela started to gently pour bath water over Jordi’s shoulder, but ended up getting splashed from head to toe as Jordi screeched in pain and jumped out of the bath so fast that he brought half the water with him. He continued to groan, curled up and hugging himself as he paced and rocked in pain.
“That damn spider! That damn spider! I’m going to kill him!”
“Oh, don’t say that in front of your father,” gasped Carmela. “I’m taking you to the doctor, and we’re going to get you something really strong. I’ll have them knock you out, if we can.”
Bonito looked long and hard for Aurelio. He was angry. His son was hurt, and the spider had suspiciously disappeared at the same time. But he didn’t have proof, so he let his logic dictate his reaction. And as the week passed, his fear for what had happened to Aurelio pushed aside his concern for Jordi. ‘Jordi is getting better, and Aurelio could be dead,’ he thought.