Why you should help a spider

Hi I am Elizabeth, Elizabeth Brown. I’m 7 years old and I live in an apartment in London with my mom Susanna, my dad Martin, and my 5 yr old sister Kelly. My nickname is Lizzie. I’m going to tell you something queer that happened to me last summer.

It was a hot day in June and I was walking with my friend Annie Hills to the park. “You know I’m going to the zoo tomorrow. Want to come, Lizzie?” asked Annie. “Sure!” I replied excitedly and we sat on the park bench. “There’s gonna be a peacock show” chirped Annie (she was a chatterbox). “Any spider show?” I joked. She shuddered at the thought. Annie had Arachnophobia, fear of spiders. Then we started talking about school and stuff, and we walked back home. “See you tomorrow!” I shouted as I rang the doorbell.

“How was your day Lizzie Pie?” asked Dad. “Good” I answered jumping on the couch. “I say, can we go to the zoo tomorrow, dad?” “Why! that’s exactly what mom and I were planning!” said Dad with surprise. “Yippee!” I screamed and ran upstairs, almost bumping into Kelly. “What happened?” Kelly asked. “We are going to the zoo with Annie tomorrow!” I said. “Cool!” said Kelly as she went to her bed. “Go to sleep, girls!” yawned mom. I slept dreaming about peacocks and spiders.

“Wake up sleepy head!” screamed Kelly in the morning, “we have to go to the zoo now”. “So early?” I murmured. I quickly brushed my teeth, combed my hair, and put on a Pink blouse. Then Kelly dragged me to the car. “What’ve you been doing so late?!” said Mom jumping in.,“We have to pick up Annie on the way”. “Lazy Lizzie” Kelly grinned. I punched her playfully. After a minute, we reached the Hills’ house. Annie and her parents joined us and the parents greeted each other. Finally, we left. It was a long drive to the zoo. “No wonder we left so early” said Annie. “Yes!” I said, “I couldn’t get up in the morning”. “Are we there yet?” groaned Kelly. “Yes, here!” said Dad as he parked the car.

“There are peacocks and spider cages over there” I said pointing to a sign. “Dad, why don’t you, Mr. Brown, and Kelly go to the Dog Show, while the rest of us go to the Peacocks suggested Annie. “Good idea” said Dad and left. 

Annie and I enjoyed watching and petting the peacocks. But none of the people thought about visiting the little spiders. All of us were obsessed with the peacocks. I spotted some more kids from our school. Suddenly I heard a tiny sob. I jumped up, startled. “What happened?” asked Annie. “Didn’t you hear that noise?” I said. “You must be daydreaming, you seriously gave me a fright.” she said. “Sorry” I said though I was still looking around cautiously. I didn’t see anything so I went back to watching the peacocks. But as I fed a baby peacock, I heard another sob.I looked at the peacocks in the cage but all of of them were enjoying their attention. Then I looked at the spider cage and spotted a tiny spider in it. I thought to myself “May be Annie is right and I’m dreaming. But I should still go and confirm if the sound is coming from the spider”.

I quickly ran towards it. “What happened?”I whispered gently because I didn’t want others to think I’m silly for talking to spiders. “m-m-my leg is s-s-s-stuck” sobbed the spider. Now I knew for sure that the spider was indeed crying! Its leg was stuck in the cage mesh. It took me a while but I succeeded in taking its leg out from there. “Thank you!” said the spider with a smile, “what’s your name? I would like to pay you back somehow”. I couldn’t believe that I was talking to a spider! May be magic for real. “My name is Elizabeth” I said, “what’s yours?” “Bethany” replied the spider, “Ok I think you have to go home now, bye!”. I waved good bye to Bethany and ran to the car.

“Where have you been?” asked Annie. I told her about Bethany. At first she didn’t believe me, but then I explained how I also didn’t believe but that spider was actually talking! “Super girl saves Sobby spider!” teased Annie. I laughed at it. After an hour, we dropped off Annie and reached home. I got out of the car and ran upstairs to my room.

I took out my toy paper airplane and started flying it around. As I played, the plane went under my bed. I tried reaching it but I couldn’t. Suddenly, there was a flash of green light and Bethany appeared before me. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She crawled under the bed and spun a web from the plane to my hand. I pulled the web and the plane came out with Bethany sitting in the pilot’s seat. I stroked her back gently.

Then Kelly came into the room asking / shouting “Oh my God! there’s a spider in your hand and you’re petting it. What’s happening here?!” 

Oh well, I have to tell the story all over again.

PS: Now, will you help a spider in trouble?