It all started the night that the
electrical transformer box turned into a giant spider. I'd been
seeing shadows of things flicker across my side vision for days. I
guess it made me paranoid. Our kitchen window looks over the side
yard - I'd be doing dishes, and a flash of something would ghost
across the yard. I'd look up, but nothing would be there. Go outside
to check. Just spiderwebs across the bushes. Nothing unusual. There
have been more spiders out this year though.
Anyway. Giant spider. It really did
happen, you know. I was driving home at dusk last week. The street I
go down has a nice neighborhood on one side of it. The other side is
just weeds and fence. You can't see behind the fence. The transformer
box is on that side. As my car lights hit the box, I noticed it move.
Yes, the entire box. I couldn't decide what it was – just my
ghosting, or if it really was something, so I slowed down, maybe down
to 20 miles an hour. Then I saw the legs. There's nothing quite so
horrifying as the dance of a spider leg – that segmented, creeping
wave in the air as it takes a step forward. I couldn't decide whether
I should speed back up or slow down even further. I thought for sure
my eyes were playing tricks on me – one of the weeds had gotten
really tall; the wind was blowing it around. As I came closer yet, I
saw the body. Now I knew I wasn't imagining it. I sped up and flew
out of there – didn't think anything about that nice neighborhood.
A small girl went missing from there
this week. The police are out in force; the neighborhood watch is on
high alert. The news is saying that she's the youngest person to be
reported missing this year – she's four.
That could be my little niece. I feel
responsible, but who's going to believe a girl who's known for her
imagination? It's not like I'm a trouble maker; I just tend to live
in my head a lot. My parents are proud of me for joining a couple of
clubs this year – they call it “coming out of my shell”. Yay
for me.
---------------------------------------------------
And the editor (me, in my other hat) says:
Our story so far: Our not-intrepid
heroine sees things. Spiders (giant ones) in particular. A little
girl went missing. She feels responsible, but who's going to believe
in a giant spider?
What we need: A story. A name. Wherever
is this going? We have a young, naïve sounding girl who sees stuff.
So? Where's the hook? Why does she see stuff? What's with the giant
spider? Well, we can see where the giant spider is going – back
over that high fence!!! Ooooh. Scary stuff. We can see where the
little girl is – back over that fence! Or with her mother – who
ran away from her husband & is divorcing him. Nobody ever thinks
of the easy solutions when there could be drastic ones instead!
