For My Readers

Writing a first draft of a book is a glorious, free-wheeling affair where ideas come fast and furious, and the writing flows easily. But there’s also a lot of hard work involved, writing and rewriting. My first novel, Never See the Sun Again, is nothing like the first draft. Even the main character was swapped out for another character!

Some of the writing is bound to wind up on the cutting room floor. Here’s a special treat for my readers, a scene that didn’t make it into the final version of As the Waters Rise. And yes, Regal spiders are a real thing (although I added the rainbow stripes to their legs). Google it, you’ll see! I hope you enjoy reading it.

Wait until they see this, Manny thought, smiling to himself as he hurried home late one afternoon with the tiny package in his jacket pocket. He’d come across the seller during some routine police work. The store owner was doing a lively and lucrative business in exotic pets. Regal rainbow spiders were all the rage this spring, very expensive and hard to get.

Regal rainbow spiders, so named for the multi-colored stripes on their legs, not only ate all sorts of insects (including the little black ants which plagued his wife’s kitchen), but they could be taught to recognize their human, extending one leg in greeting. While not exactly friendly in the human sense, they did develop a bond with the person who fed them. Most often they were kept as pets for school children in a glass enclosed cage, but Manny had other plans for this one.

“What’s in the box?” asked Marya as Manny took it out of his jacket, placing it with a flourish on the kitchen table. Julie stopped what she was doing and came over to look.

“Remember how you said that the ants are worse than ever this year?” Manny asked. “I’ve got something here that should help.” He carefully untied the little parcel, unwrapping the piece of burlap surrounding the wooden box. He opened the lid.

The delicate tapered black tip of one tiny leg appeared, then another. Julie and Marya bent over cautiously to get a closer look. Then the spider’s head appeared, peeking over the edge. It was surprisingly large for such a tiny creature. Eight little round black eyes swiveled around to get a better look at the humans peering down at him.

Julie screamed. All three of them retreated backwards as the spider dove back into its box, curling up in a little ball in one corner, making himself very small. Julie held tightly to her Aunt Marya’s arm.

Manny pulled the lid protectively back over the box, drawing it closer to him. “He needs to get to know you,” he explained. “He’s not afraid of me. I fed him a couple of times before I bought him.”

“What exactly is it?” Julie asked, curiosity replacing fear.

“He’s a Regal jumping spider, a rainbow variety,” Manny explained. “They are very rare. It cost me a pretty penny, too! I waited three weeks for this one to mature! They only live for a year or so.”

He turned to Marya. “Now you have an organic solution to the ants in the kitchen,” he explained proudly. “They should be gone in a few days.”

But Marya wasn’t focusing on the ants. “Did you say ‘jumping’ spider?” she asked fearfully, glancing at the lid on the box, which was moving ever so slightly.

“The store owner said they jump,” Manny confirmed. “But he’s not going to jump very high or very far,” he hastened to add reassuringly. “When I open the box, I bet he’ll head straight for the wall near the kitchen sink. That’s where the ants are, right?”

Julie pointed to the box. “Someone’s getting restless, Uncle Manny,” she said, referring to the long, tapered leg which had pushed aside the lid. It was waving back and forth, doing a delicate dance as it searched for the solid surface of the tabletop.

“I thought you were afraid of spiders,” Marya said. “There was some story about Julio and you when you were kids, and a spider bit you, and Julio made you smash it with your fist?”

Manny nodded. “I had a terrible phobia! But it went away. I guess I outgrew it, after that.”

Another leg appeared over the side of the box, then two more. Suddenly he climbed out of the box in one single, swift motion, landing without a sound on the table. He saw Manny, raising one leg in recognition of the person who fed him.

“Hey, guy,” said Manny awkwardly, pushing his index finger forward towards the spider. The movement was too sudden, though, and the spider reared back on his hind legs and then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

“What just happened?” Marya said blankly. “Where did he go? He’s not in the box,” she added, picking it up and turning it upside down.

But no one could find the little spider. “He’s got to be here somewhere,” Julie insisted, crawling on her hands and knees underneath the table. “How far could he go?”

“They’re very fast,” Manny said. He recalled his conversation with the store owner, who had told him that Regal spiders were remarkably agile and especially good at flattening themselves to fit beneath doors or into cracks in a wall.

“If they manage to escape, you probably won’t be able to find them, but don’t worry, they won’t stay lost forever,” the store owner had chuckled. “They get to know who feeds them, and they’ll turn up as soon as they want to be fed.”

“We’ll just wait,” Manny advised. “He’ll be back when he wants food.”

“What do they eat?” Julie asked.

Before Manny had a chance to respond, there was a shriek from the library, where Lucinda had been reading, followed by a loud thwack, like the sound of something heavy being dropped on top of a desk.

“Everything OK in there?” Manny called.

“It’s OK, we’re fine,” replied Zach. “There was a spider on the table near Abuela. It nearly gave her a heart attack, jumping up onto the table like that! Don’t worry, I got it.”