Joel in the rain is a series of pictures used to illustrate what happens when you kill a spider (it rains). This is an entry from September 2005

The Boy and the Spider

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Sun Sept 22, 2005: The boys came home late last night because they were at a birthday party at one of those indoor gym places. As soon as they arrived Joel went into the first floor bathroom and let out a tremendous scream. He rushed back out knocking over his brother. When I calmed him down he informed me there was a big spider in there.

Joel is frightened of spiders.

 I went in to check and came out screaming as well. It was a REALLY BIG spider but my screams were just for special effect. There was no toilet paper in the bathroom and my plan to dispatch the beast was to crush it in a big wad of toilet paper paper then flush it all away. (I am brave but not brave enough to try that bare-handed.) Anyway I finally got rid of the spider by coaching it to crawl on to a newspaper then brought it out back to let it escape outside.

The kids were outraged I didn't kill it. I explained to the children that a full grown spider eats 15 times its weight in mosquitoes each day (I don't think that is really true. I just made that up to sound impressive and to put in a good word for the spider.)

Anyway even though it was past bed-time Joel was too frightened to go to sleep. I got him to lay down and told him the story of the Boy and the Spider. It goes something like this....

Once upon a time there was a big snake. The snake was planning to eat a spider which it followed into a house. The spider went into the bathroom. Soon a boy who was out late at a birthday party came home and was very frightened to see a spider in his bathroom.

The boy cried out to his brave father who came and killed the spider. Then it was time for bed but the boy was still strangely frightened. He could not sleep.

The father said..."Oh don't worry Boy, I killed the spider for you there is absolutely NOTHING to worry about. The boy was still frightened but the father would not listen and MADE the boy go to bed.

"PLEASE PLEASE Father! Don't leave me alone I am frightened!" said the boy but the father would not listen. So the boy huddled down under the covers. You know what the father forgot about and what the boy was unconsciously frightened of? It was the SNAKE!.  

Yes that snake came after the spider but in the dark did not see when the spider took a quick left turn and hid in the bathroom. The snake turned right and continued up the stairway. It made its way into the room of the Boy. And it was a very big snake. When the snake did not find the spider right away it decided to find a quiet place to wait for the spider. It crawled under the boy's bed and waited. Later that same night when the boy came to his bed the big snake was still waiting. The snake thought.....Oh what is that getting into the bed? Sounds like a VERY BIG spider. The snake's mouth dripped in eager anticipation of the meal to come. Slowly the snake crawled into the bed with the boy (here you get special effects of hands snaking under blankets slowly surrounding the kid).

And this was a very HUNGRY snake. It had its snake eyes ready for a big spider meal and now it was ready to eat. What could it eat. What was this in the bed? Oh no. This is not a spider! Its a LITTLE BOY! Oh never mind thought the snake, its a delicious boy smelling of bubble gum and party snacks! So do you know what happened? The snake ate up the boy. (Now the kid gets wrapped all up in the blanket and is given a really big hug.)

So in the morning when the father came you know what he saw? - No Boy! Only a big snake in the shape of a boy.. He squeezed the snake and realized it was his boy inside! (More hugging) Oh why didn't I listen the father cried. So he got a big knife and you know what he did? He cut open the snake and the boy came out all safe and sound. That is the end of the story.