Spoody the Spider

Once upon a time deep in the forest, there lived a small colony of spiders. Normally spiders don’t like to live in groups but this was the Central Spider Training Headquarters. Any spider who could survive and pass the training could live anywhere in the forest.

They would enter as young, naïve spiders but leave as elite predators.  The newest students first had to go through the classroom portion of the training. Those spiders could graduate to Silk Weaving if they could pass the written exam after the week of class. Only one spider had ever failed the test before; his name was Spoody, and to this day he still hasn’t passed that test.

Spoody wasn’t like the other spiders. Spoody either had a lot more or a lot less on his mind than the other spiders, nobody really could tell which. No matter what was going on in Spoody’s mind, he only ever seemed to want to do one thing: stare at those clouds. He would spend the whole of recess staring at the clouds without talking to anybody. In class, he would barely pay attention to the teacher, trying to steal glimpses of those clouds. Even when the teacher put him in the farthest seat from the window, Spoody just imagined the clouds passing over him.

Spoody was happy; he wasn’t ever bullied because he was so much older than the other spiders in his class. He mostly kept to himself and stared at those clouds. Sometimes another spider would join Spoody cloud gazing.

“What do you think that one looks like, Spoody?” a young spider said one afternoon, “I think it’s a gnat! Yum!” But Spoody just kept staring at those clouds. He never even gave a response, so the young spider walked away a bit hurt. Spoody never meant to hurt anyone; he was just so focused on those clouds. Other spiders didn’t seem to matter as much as those clouds.

One day, a bat decided to visit the spider’s playground. It had long been abandoned by the students; everyone but Spoody, of course. Spoody had spent his recess as he always did staring at those clouds and he hadn’t heard the bell to go back inside.

The bat landed next to Spoody and leaned in close with a leering voice, “Well hey there, spider. Whatcha… whatcha lookin’ at there?” He paused for a moment then continued, “Oh you don’t talk do ya? One of them mutes I see. I had a cousin who was a mute, boy he had the worst time hunting! You shoulda seen it, spider, he was openin’ his mouth to give out a screech and nuthin’! He starts flying around ‘cos he heard Uncle Jacob’s screech and he gone and run into a tree! That was a good time, spider.”

Spoody just kept staring at those clouds. The clouds were moving directly at them so it looked as though the pair were moving even though they stood still. The bat kept on talking,

“Say, I never did introduce myself to you. The name is Roger! I appreciate the comp’ny. You see, most times I get anywhere near a spider. It’s all ‘Get away from it!’ or ‘That thing shouldn’t even be here!’” Roger squealed in his best spider accent.

Spoody didn’t take his eyes of the sky, but in a low mumble he said “I’m Spoody.”

Roger’s eyes lit up as he said, “Well, Spoody, I’m pleased to make your acquaintan–.”

The bat was interrupted by a piercingly loud scream. “Get out of here you nuisance! Spoody, get away from that thing!” shouted Mrs. Widow, Spoody’s classroom teacher.

Roger turned his head back from the screaming old spider and faced Spoody, who hadn’t even flinched. Roger said, “I better go, but it was nice talkin’ with you, Spoody. If you’re lookin’ to talk some more, meet me tonight on the third branch of the old Elm tree just yonder.” The bat made to take flight, he screeched back at the teacher and gawking spiders before calling back to Spoody, “Just pick any leaf, spider, I’ll find you!”

Mrs. Widow sprinted up to Spoody after the bat had traveled a safe distance from them. “What in the world were you thinking, Spoody? Skipping class AND fraternizing with a B-A-T! I just don’t know what gets into you, young man.” Her tone softened a bit, “Spoody, you need to just start doing what you’re supposed to do and then you can move on. Don’t you want to ever move on, dear?”

Spoody kept on staring at those clouds. He said nothing and soon Mrs. Widow brought the class back inside, leaving Spoody to his clouds.

That night, Spoody made his way to the Elm tree that his new friend had mentioned. He climbed up to the third branch and started along it examining leaf after leaf. Roger had told him to pick his own leaf so Spoody wanted to make sure he picked his favorite one.

Spoody had narrowed it down to the top three contenders of which leaf he would stand on when a dark mass silently swooped in and landed on the end of the branch. “Spider!” Roger’s voice rung out, “You actually came! Woo wee, my cousin Ed ain’t never gonna believe I hung out with a spider!”

Spoody stared at Roger, almost through him, he said nothing. You might think that Spoody’s silence would put a damper on any hang out session, but you don’t know Roger. Roger can talk to a stump and have a riveting conversation. The bat has talked to the eggs of an owl while she’s out hunting trying to get the chicks to put in a good word for him. Roger was a talker, and a listener like Spoody was just what he needed.

The two became friends quickly, though their type of friendship wasn’t the most normal. For three nights in a row, they met on the third branch of the elm tree but Spoody had yet to say a word during the entire time they spent together. Roger filled the time by asking the spider questions and telling stories without waiting for an answer. Spoody was silent until the fourth night they spent together.

“I’m not supposed to be here.” Spoody mumbled. Roger almost didn’t hear him say it. He was going on about the time he and his cousins raided a beehive. He stopped mid-sentence to say, “What was that, pal?”

Spoody repeated, “I’m not supposed to be here.”

Roger was unsure of what to say. That was the longest sentence his friend had ever said to him but it meant he had to go. “Are you gonna leave then?” questioned Roger.

Roger’s question must have set something off in Spoody and with a voice even Spoody didn’t recognize, he yelled, “I’m not supposed to do this! I’m not supposed to do that! I’m supposed to do this, this, and that. And then I’ll become what I’m supposed to become…” Spoody’s voice returned to his normal mumble as he finished speaking.

There was a moment of utter silence, even the crickets stopped chirping for a moment. Roger ended the silence by asking, “What do you wanna do then, Spoody?”

Roger waited what felt like a lifetime of silence before Spoody replied quietly, “I want to fly.”

“You wanna fly?” Roger repeated. “You’re a spider, you can’t do that! Why you’re suppo—.” Roger stopped himself suddenly realizing the mistake he was about to make.

Spoody spoke again, keeping his normal mumbling tone, “I like to watch the clouds because it makes me feel like I’m moving through them. My favorite days are the ones when the clouds move right at you! Those days feel the most like I’m flying.”

Back in his normal rambunctious voice, Roger exclaimed, “Well I’ll be a hornet’s handmaiden, you really are somethin’! A spider who wants nothing’ more than to fly! Well I’ll tell you what, if you can teach me how to spin a web, then I’ll teach you how to fly.”

Spoody’s eyes lit up like never before. Without another word, he ran back to the trunk of the tree and back home. Roger felt good. His friend started to talk with him today. He felt a little bad that he made his offer in jest, but it’s not like Spoody was ever really going to teach him how to spin a web. He’s a bat, after all.

A few nights passed and Spoody still didn’t show up to the third branch of the Elm tree. Roger was beginning to lose hope that he would ever see his spider friend again. On the night of the full moon, Roger stood alone on the third branch of the elm tree; this would be the last night he would wait. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the faintest cough from behind him. Spoody had returned.

Roger spun around and shouted with glee, “Hoo wee! I’m glad to see you! You didn’t think I was gonna give up on you, did ya? Where ya been lately? How ya been?”

Spoody ignored Roger’s questions like he always did. “Are you ready?” asked the spider.

Confused, Roger responded, “Uhh I guess. For what exactly?”

Spoody clenched his face; his knees began to tremble; he raised his thorax and… PSHLLGLLGLSHH! A small pile of web sat on the leaf just behind Spoody. The spider gathered himself then looked at the bat and said, “There, now you try.”

Roger erupted with laughter, “Ahaha are you kiddin’ me? Ahahaha I can’t believe you just did that! Ahahahaha!” Spoody continued to stare at the laughing bat. Roger went on, “Ahah I think I can probably manage that right there, although it might not be the same color.”

The snickering bat picked a leaf and tried Spoody’s technique on it. “Well, it worked spider.” Roger said between chuckles, “I didn’t know I had it in me.”

“Now it’s your turn,” squeaked the spider, a life in his eyes reserved only for those clouds.

Roger, thinking the whole thing was a joke, cleared his throat and said, “Alright spider, I’m gonna give you the same advice my Auntie Louise gave me the day I learned how to fly. First you’re gonna walk to the edge of that there leaf.”

Spoody walked over to the edge of the leaf. He looked down and realized just how high up he was on this tree. Spoody was confident in his friend. He knew the bat would hold up his end of the bargain and that meant Spoody was safe.

Roger continued, “Alright, now that you’re at the edge and scared to death,” he paused, “jump.”

Spoody heard the word and leaped from the leaf. Down, down, down, he plummeted into the night air. He could see the branches and leaves of the other trees coming at him like the clouds would on a good day. Spoody felt the wind on his body and he closed his eyes. This was it, Spoody the spider was flying; he knew it. He opened his eyes and saw the ground much closer than he liked and getting closer. Spoody wasn’t flying, he was falling!

Spoody realized that this was the end. He had spent his entire life wanting to fly and here he was, about to finish his one and only one attempt. He closed his eyes again; At least the wind will feel good until the end, he thought.

Suddenly, Spoody felt more than wind moving around him. Spoody felt something solid, something slightly hairy. He opened his eyes and to his amazement, he wasn’t falling anymore. He looked down to see that Roger had caught him.

“I can’t believe you actually did it, brother,” Roger called to the spider on his back, “I thought it was all just a joke and then you were gone all of a sudden. Good thing I caught up to you before you went squash!”

Spoody didn’t hear a word Roger said; he didn’t hear anything at all except the wind moving past him. He looked forward and saw the world coming at him just like those clouds on a good day. He was happy to stare at those clouds all day long imagining what it would be like up there soaring through them. But he didn’t need to imagine anymore. In the light of the full moon, Spoody could see those clouds moving overhead and he smiled.

Spoody knew that he would never be the spider that did what he was supposed to do and he would never become the spider he was supposed to become. But on that bright night, Spoody the spider flew, and that was good enough for him.

And that’s the story of how Spoody the spider realized his dream. You are unique and your dreams are unparalleled; don’t let anyone tell you the way you’re supposed to be. You are you, follow what makes you happy and you can accomplish anything.