Scooter and Webster

Scooter and Webster

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, it was almost dark and Scooter had made his way indoors to Jacob's bathroom. Once there, Scooter tucked himself behind the mirrored cupboard screwed to the wall above the sink. Jacob used the mirrored cupboard for a shave or general inspection depending on the event and demands. Scooter liked the bathroom; it was invariably one of the warmer rooms not subject to the hazards of vacuum cleaners and enthusiastic dusting. Scooter quickly spun a basic web behind the cupboard and slept.

Sometime later, the door of the bathroom opened, a tap was turned on, and clouds of steam enveloped the room. Scooter dropped down to see what was happening only to be met by shrieks of alarm as Kamila, Jacob’s friend, ran out of the bathroom shouting "Spider! Jacob there's a spider in the bathroom." Jacob smiled, put down the book he was reading and walked into the bathroom.

"Where is it? The spider, where did you see it?"

"Underneath the cupboard...your shaving cupboard! Please get rid of it."

Jacob could see Scooter, hanging quite still by his gossamer thread and visible against the white tiling of the room. Jacob took scooter in his hand, walked to his terrace sliding doors, opened the doors and scanned the small patio. The summer chairs were neatly stacked against a wall and there, spun between the stack of chairs was a spider’s web. Jacob opened his hand near the web and waited. Scooter knew that he had to vacate the warmth of a house for the winter sharpness of the patio. The options would be much more drastic if Jacob returned to the living room with Scooter and Kamila in a state of panic. Quite quickly Scooter leapt from Jacob’s hand onto the apparently empty web probably vacated because of the weather. Job done, Jacob turned, returned to his living room and closed the sliding door.Jacob drew the curtains leaving Scooter on a second-hand web in the winter cold. But at least the chairs offered some protection form the continuing quiet snowfall blanketing the small garden that complimented the equally small patio; All was quiet, the cold and the snow having a deadening effect on noise. Scooter looked at the winter scene and wondered when he might be able to get inside again preferably when Jacob's girlfriend was not there.

Suddenly Scooter was aware of movement on the web-this was not always a good sign. Siders can be very territorial and quick to guard their territory. He slowly moved his position to take stock. And there out of the gloom, antennae raised was the current owner of this web. Scooter tensed and looked more carefully... he tilted his head again and quietly said, "Webster? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is," came the reply, "and they say it's a small world, Scooter! Is it really you?"

"Yes, my good friend it’s me, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question." said Webster.

"Well, a load of us have been moved on. Made Homeless."

"No! How come?"

Webster paused and then began his story.

"One minute it’s there and the next its gone. Scooter, I was thinking of picking my Winter stop over spot from my usual vantage point high up in the eaves of a building waiting for my fellow spinners who make home during the winter months in the same place. It's near Vrijbroek Park- do you remember it?"

" Yes, I do-beautiful spot;"

"Not any more Scooter," he continued, "the dense foliage, the trees and bushes have gone. What's left are signs that had been put up some time ago saying that the area would be 'cleared for development'. That 'would be' has now translated into 'has been.'

We were told; trucks and bulldozers had moved into the once wooded area that is home to so much diverse life. Machinery transformed the space from wooded area to barren field: Locals told us that the trees were uprooted and dismembered with howling chainsaws and bushes and hedges piled into some sort of pyre. Trucks came and went taking what once was living now destined for a landfill or lumber yard. Scooter, it's gone. Demolished. Like it had never been there. To be fair to the local humans a group of residents had opposed the development as it was the only green space that could be found in the area. Most residents lived in busy areas where the daily commute disgorged cars, bikes and commuters making their way to the big smoke. On return this green space offered some notion of nature, something natural and not manufactured belching out combustible products. The locals loved it. But...the planning committee for the area had overridden protests and sanctioned the house building project. "Houses were needed," they said, and the site was made available.

Well, after that a few of us got together to see what we could do for a winter stop over or where we could go, but so many of our normal haunts have been built on, concreted over of tarmacked. And of course, indoor options always run the risk of vacuum cleaners, dusters and being swatted like a fly...why do humans do that to us Scooter?"

"I don't know." said Scooter. "I think its because we are small and they don't really know what we do for them."

Both became quiet sitting quietly in Webster's winter temporary residence.

" I should be okay here for the Winter months." said Webster. "Anyway, what are you doing here?

" Real simple. I had the opportunity to get into a warm place as it was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, like it still is now, and it was almost dark, but the patio door briefly opened by Jacob and I was in."

" So why did you decide cold, and snow and dark were a better bet than warmth!"

" No... no... it was Kamila, Jacob’s girlfriend, she turned on a hot tap and my cubby hole was filled with steam.... I popped to see what was, she screamed and Jacob - (who is a spider fan) decided to rehouse me out here-at least he didn't swat me!"

" Well... it's a surprise but it’s good to see you again Scooter. Let's make things a little more comfortable for ourselves and get some rest."

" Good idea, where shall we start?"

(In the spring Scooter and Webster will vacate the patio chairs and try and find a natural habitat to spin their webs and be part of the eco system. But their normal spots are vanishing and are being used for human habitation while excluding habitat development for the small, almost invisible, spiders.)