A person steps into the shower, adjusts the shower curtain. A large spider is seen to scramble in every direction away from the falling water. The person's face displays mild surprise at the spider's appearance. While performing routine activities of the shower, the person uses one big toe to deflate air bubbles in the clear bath mat. The toe deflates bubbles only in places where black specks, the decaying corpses of previously deceased spiders, can be clearly seen. The person's face registers mild irony as the now half-dead spider finds a small opening through which to crawl under the bath mat. As water impedes the spider's progress on all sides, the person uses the toe to help the spider through the rubber doorway. These words are spoken: "There's no hope for you."
An alternate title for this post:
ungeheuren Ungeziefer
For some reason, the tall, empty room where [Gregor Samsa] was forced to remain made him feel uneasy as he lay there flat on the floor, even though he had been living in it for five years. Hardly aware of what he was doing other than a slight feeling of shame, he hurried under the couch. It pressed down on his back a little, and he was no longer able to lift his head, but he nonetheless felt immediately at ease and his only regret was that his body was too broad to get it all underneath.ungeheuren Ungeziefer
*****
Hiding places there are innumerable, escape is only one, but possibilities for escape, again, are as many as hiding places.How blest am I
In my just censure! in my true opinion!
Alack, for lesser knowledge! how accurs'd
In being so blest! There may be in the cup
A spider steep'd, and one may drink; depart,
And yet partake no venom (for his knowledge
Is not infected), but if one present
Th' abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
(The Winter's Tale, II.i.36-45)
For more on this topic, see Story from North America by Kristen Lepore and Garrett Davis.
2 comments:
This isn't really on topic, but my house is littered with centipedes, and the first time I saw one I kind of freaked out cause it was huge and I hadn't really seen them before so I killed it... which is rare, cuz normally I don't kill non-human animals. Thus, I felt quite bad afterwards, especially as it's leg-parts continued to writhe about for several seconds after the smashing-device was removed. Then (and this is the kind of relevant part) I came upon one in the shower with moi the other night, and it too was none too happy to be washing about. So I killed the water and helped the poor ugly bugger out of the bathtub, and proceeded to give it careful and delicate CPR... ok that part wasn't true, but I did poke at it until it crawled away under a wall, hopefully to rejoin it's disgusting ugly centipede family, which undoubtedly lives somewhere in my subconscious. Moral of the story? Never trust evolution.
Rest assured, I do not strictly enforce the on-topic commenting rule, particularly for comments as delightful as yours. I hope you leave a few more scattered around the blog.
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