DOOM(ED) REALITY FOR RAIN SPIDERS AND PEOPLE ALIKE

 

“First, you douse it with Doom to incapacitate it and then you stomp on it or smite the last life out of it with a fly swatter.  Point is, after you’re done, it is as dead as a door nail!”  Valerie appears somewhat traumatised by Jaime’s words.  She was going to suggest that Jaime catch the rain spider onto a piece of paper or something and then set it free outside, which is exactly what she would have done.  Valerie decides against voicing her suggestion to Jaime, and instead, she smiles at her friend on the computer screen before they resume the official part of their scheduled Zoom meeting.  Valerie knows that behind Jaime’s harsh serial-bug-killer exterior, she hides a vulnerable tender heart.


Despite Jaime’s dominant temperament which renders her fearless of confronting injustice, it only extends to confrontation with members of the human species and not necessarily beyond that.  Truth be told, confrontation with most bug types and crawling/slithering creatures, can leave Jaime in states which can vary anything from malfunctioning bowel and bladder evacuation control to complete catatonia.  Jaime considers access to her house to be restricted to humans (live-in and invited) and selected pets only.  Jaime does not subscribe to any Bug Relocation Programs or any non-human codes of conduct and she considers all bug trespassing to be an immediate guilty verdict of a serious offense/injustice, punishable by death.  Hence, there will always be a sufficient supply of Doom, a working Zapper and a few fly swatters available at Jaime’s house for swift execution of bug death sentences.


A few days after the Zoom meeting, during a catch-up chat, Valerie takes the opportunity to share her suggestion with Jaime.  Just the idea of interacting with a live rain spider sends arctic chills up and down Jaime’s spine, but she manages to return a smile to Valerie.  Although the conversational topic quickly changes to human doings, Valerie’s consideration of the sanctity of bug life commissioned a brand new train of thought in Jaime’s busy Grand Central Railway mind.  As it stands, Jaime doesn’t really ever have just a single train of thought.  She generally has about 7 different trains on 15 tracks, all of which narrowly miss each other at all the crossings.  At any given time, all the conductors are screaming and none of them ever stay beyond a first shift AND now there is a brand new train on the same tracks.


Could Valerie actually be onto something?  Perhaps if Jaime could overlook her visceral response to the sight of a rain spider, she would be able to see a different picture.  What if Doom only serves to immobilise/incapacitate the spider?  Could that imply that Doom actually exacerbates the pain, and consequently, not only cause but also prolong immense suffering?  That would be so very cruel, right?  Now, superimpose this, as an analogy, onto the bigger picture of human life in a broken world.  Don’t we all sometimes seek shelter from constant exposure to the harsh elements of life just to be doused in crueler forms of reality in places where we expect safety?  Jaime suddenly feels just like that rain spider doused in Doom and who knows, maybe she will be more gracious with the next trespassing rain spider in her house.  


ATTENTION ALL RAIN SPIDERS : Valerie’s got your backs, but perhaps stay clear of Jaime’s house for the time being!

Comments

  1. Maretha MNovember 9, 2023 at 8:45 PM

    Oh, my word. We attended a wonderful lecture on spiders. We learnt about taking the little darlings back into the wild on a piece of paper...and yesterday I once again killed an untrustworthy black one. Thank you for this. With so many species and millions of members of every family, very few human beings will miss the missing ones.

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