The Banana Spider in the Window

The Banana Spider in the Window

by
Cynthia Ascanio

The banana spider crawled into the cowboy boot just after midnight. Jacky was sound asleep and oblivious to the event.

Jacky’s week on the island was over and what a week it had turned out to be!

Through each weapons search at the airport, flight delays, and greasy fast food, she kept telling herself “I will have a good vacation, I will. I deserve to get away and have some fun, I do.” When she finally arrived at her destination (17 hours later than planned) a pretty dark-haired girl smiled and motioned for her to duck her head to accept the wreath of flowers placed around her neck. From that point forward, things started to go right for Jacky Johnson.

Jacky scuba-dived, dined on expertly prepared meals fresh from the sea, drank all the wine she wanted, and slept late every day. She started to turn brown from the sun. By the sixth day, she had lost track of time (no watch), the ups and downs of the stock market (no TV), and her carefully planned budget (plastic was so easy to use!).

In an attempt to squeeze the most out of her time on the island, Jacky signed up for a horseback ride by the ocean. She bought a cheap pair of boots, a straw hat, and a red bandana. Her knees hurt when the ride was over, but she enjoyed it more than she thought she would. What took Jacky by surprise was how tired she felt after dinner. She fell into bed exhausted and slept her last night away without dreaming or waking.

The next morning, Jacky called room service and started to pack her things. She looked at the cheap boots (already cracked where they bent into the stirrup), and considered leaving them behind, but decided at the last minute to take them home in the duffel bag.

Back to her everyday life, Jacky unpacked and did laundry. The boots ended up in the back of the closet. She downloaded her pictures and showed everyone at work how much fun she had on vacation.

The banana spider was no longer dormant. Tucked into the toe of one cowboy boot, she spun a protective web and slept. She got her name from the banana shaped mark where her deadly poison was produced, just below her head. She laid her eggs and then crawled out of the boot, making her way to the window next to the king-size bed in the master bedroom.

Summer ended and Jacky needed to air the house. She took a few days off and worked her way through the house ending up in the bedroom. She spent a few minutes pulling back curtains and raising blinds before using a duster, (one of those colorful static-cling kind) on the sill.

Something landed on Jacky’s hand and she looked down in visceral horror at a large green spider. In the next instant the banana spider bit Jacky in the webbing between her thumb and first finger.

Jacky was dead in about five minutes, paralyzed, unable to move or cry out. She died next to the bed, within reach of the telephone, no longer able to breathe in and out.

The offspring of the banana spider, just hatched that morning, smelled death and filed out of the closet (all 147 of them), to investigate.

The end.