by Katie Tsang
We knocked on her door and Melinda let us in. ‘I hear you want some of my honey?’
I started to explain to Melinda why I needed honey, but she interrupted me. ‘I know all about the spider,’ she said. ‘Tulip, is it?’
Like I said, Melinda knows everything.
‘Hmmm,’ she went on, looking at Na-Na. ‘I have to say, this is a most unusual plan. But the best ones usually are. Just make sure you don’t tell anyone that Na-Na and I helped you.’
I crossed my heart.
‘Very good,’ she said. ‘Now, do you want to go and say hello to my bees?’
I shook my head. ‘No thank you,’ I said as politely as I could. I’d had enough trouble with creatures this week, what with all the spiders. I didn’t want to add bees into the mix! But I also didn’t want to offend Melinda or her bees. ‘Maybe next time?’
‘Very well,’ said Melinda. ‘And you’re in luck – I happen to have a few extra jars of honey. But you know if I give them to you . . .’
‘I’ll owe you,’ I finished. Melinda operates on the same system as Na-Na.
‘He’s very good at weeding the garden,’ Na-Na offered.
‘I’m sure I can think of something,’ said Melinda.
She went into her kitchen and came back with three jars of gleaming honey. I put them in my backpack slowly, thinking about how to best approach my next request. ‘Thank you, Melinda,’ I said. ‘Um . . .’
‘Yes, Sam? I can tell you want to ask me something else,’ said Melinda.
‘What is it, Sam?’ asked Na-Na. ‘Melinda has already been very generous.’
‘Can I borrow your beekeeper helmet?’ I burst out, deciding it was best to get straight to the point.
Melinda raised her eyebrows. ‘What for?’ she asked.
I explained about the tarantula’s secret super power to send spikes of hair into the air. ‘It seems sensible to protect my face.’
Melinda tapped her chin. ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘But I expect you to bring it back to me tomorrow, do you understand?’
‘Thank you, Melinda!’ I said.
Melinda smiled. ‘You’re very welcome, Sam.’
Something else occurred to me. I looked from Na-Na to Melinda. ‘You two won’t tell my parents about any of this, will you?’
‘Something tells me this plan of yours might just stress your parents out, and I have a feeling you’ll find a way to do it no matter what. So, we’ll keep this a secret,’ said Na-Na. Then her face grew serious. ‘But be careful, Sam. Back in Hong Kong, I came across lots of spiders. Tarantulas, jumping spiders, giant huntsman spiders and huge banana spiders. Spiders are to be respected.’
‘Spiders that live in bananas?’ I asked.
Na-Na shook her head. ‘Spiders as big as bananas.’
‘Sometimes spiders do hide in bananas though,’ added Melinda.
I gulped. I was glad that Tulip wasn’t a jumping spider. At least we had a chance of catching her if she stayed on the ground. And I would start examining bananas with extra care now too.
Melinda brought me her beekeeper helmet. It was heavier than I was expecting, and hard to see out of, but it was the perfect spider protection.
‘When you return my helmet, you’ll have to tell me how your adventure went. Good luck, Sam.’
I almost did my ‘for the universe’ hand rocket signal, but then I remembered Melinda probably wouldn’t know what that was. So instead I just shook her hand and said thank you again.
I knew I was as ready as I’d ever be.
I met Zoe and Bernard at our spot by the fence the next day before school. I’d told my mum that I was bringing the beekeeper hat into school for a project about bees.
‘Your school has a lot of interesting projects,’ she’d said, raising an eyebrow, but luckily hadn’t asked any more questions. She had, however, checked Lucy’s backpack to make sure she wasn’t trying to smuggle Butterbutt into school again.
‘Sam,’ said Bernard seriously, while inspecting my beekeeper hat, ‘you know that you are going to have to be the one to actually catch Tulip. Because you have the best protective gear.’
It was true, I did. All Bernard had been able to find at home were basic plastic gloves that his dad used while cleaning fossils. Zoe had a pair of her older brother’s ski gloves, but they were too big and made her hands bulky.
‘We’ll help you, of course,’ said Zoe, looking a bit relieved.
We decided not to go in before school started like we had yesterday. Today we were going to sneak in from the playground during recess, and hope that would give us enough time to set our honey traps, and find Tulip.
Recess was only twenty minutes long, so every minute would count.
‘What happens if we can’t find Tulip in time?’ Zoe asked.
‘We come back in at lunch and look again,’ I said. ‘The honey traps will have definitely caught Tulip by then.’
‘But won’t someone clean up the honey while we’re in class?’ asked Zoe. I frowned – I hadn’t thought of that.
‘I know!’ said Bernard. ‘We’ll put up signs next to the honey, saying it’s for a science experiment and to leave it there.’
‘Brilliant!’ I said.
This was definitely going to work, I was sure of it.
It was very hard to concentrate that morning in class.
While we were working on our spellings, Regina came over to my desk. ‘Sam,’ she whispered. ‘I couldn’t find any gloves at home!’ Then she lowered her voice even more. ‘And I think Ralph knows that we’re up to something.’
I looked over at Ralph, and sure enough, he was glaring at me over his spellings.
‘Since I don’t have gloves anyway, I thought maybe I could lead Ralph off the trail. Make sure he doesn’t follow you guys at recess,’ said Regina. ‘We don’t want him to spoil the plan.’
‘Regina, that’s genius!’ I said. I tried to snap my fingers, but I don’t know how, so it didn’t have the effect I was hoping for. But at least now we wouldn’t have to worry about Ralph.
‘I’m glad I can still be a part of the mission,’ said Regina.
‘A VERY important part,’ I said. ‘And don’t worry – you do your part, and we’ll handle the rest.’
Regina grinned. ‘Good luck, Sam.’
Finally, it was recess. Instead of running outside like we usually did, Zoe, Bernard, and I lingered in the classroom. I saw Ralph eyeing us suspiciously, but then Regina went over to him. ‘Ralph,’ she said loudly, ‘will you come to the front office with me? I have to call Mum – I think she forgot to pack our lunch.’
‘No lunch?’ exclaimed Ralph. ‘I thought she put it in my backpack this morning.’
Regina shook her head solemnly. ‘Well, I don’t have any and even if you do, you’ll have to split it with me.’
Ralph’s face dropped. He does not like sharing food. ‘Okay, I’ll go with you to the office.’ He didn’t even look back at us as he hurried after Regina.
‘Out the rest of you go,’ said Ms Winkleworth over her shoulder as she became distracted by something on her computer. We seized our chance and raced down the hall, away from our classroom, and towards Mr Dougal’s science lab. We had figured it would be best to start near where Tulip had last been spotted. Bernard poked his head in and confirmed that there was no sign of Mr Dougal – or Tulip.
Then we started setting our honey traps. We each had a jar of Melinda’s honey, and a stack of paper that said HONEY IS FOR SCIENCE EXPERIMENT – DO NOT CLEAN UP. Bernard had made them during class after he finished his spelling assignment. He has the neatest handwriting of us all.
We went along the hallway, pouring out puddles of honey in corners that looked like they might be appealing to spiders.
‘We’ll have to retrace our steps,’ said Bernard, ‘to see if our traps have caught anything!’
‘Good idea,’ I said.
We reached the end of the hallway, and were about to turn back round to check our traps, wh
en I noticed a supply closet door propped open by a mop.
‘Maybe we should put a trap in here,’ I said, poking my head inside. ‘It looks like the kind of place a spider might like.’ Bernard and Zoe followed me in. But as Bernard stepped inside, he fell into the mop, knocking it over and out of the way of the door.
Which then slammed shut.
‘Whoops,’ he said.
Zoe went to open the door.
It didn’t budge.
She pushed harder.
The door stayed shut. She turned to us with wide eyes. ‘I think we’re locked in!’
‘There’s no way we’re locked in,’ I said. ‘Your hands just must be slippery from all the honey. Here, let me try.’
I took off one of Na-Na’s gardening gloves and yanked on the doorknob. It didn’t move. I gulped. Zoe was right. We were completely locked in.
Bernard started to turn very pale. If he hadn’t liked being in the bushes in my back garden, he really wasn’t going to like this. He doesn’t even like playing hide-and-seek.
‘It’s okay, Bernard,’ I said loudly. I was speaking that way to try to show how calm and confident I was, even though my heart was beating so fast and loud in my chest I was sure my friends could hear it. ‘Just take deep breaths.’
I took my own advice and paused to take a few long breaths. I could feel myself starting to panic, but I could tell Bernard was more than scared. He was terrified, and I knew I had to be brave for him.
‘Hey, you guys,’ said Zoe in a high voice.
‘We’re taking deep breaths,’ I said.
‘Okay, but can you take deep breaths and also LOOK OVER HERE!’ Zoe sounded even more panicked than Bernard.
I looked across and saw that Zoe had hopped up on top of a small footstool. And there, right in the middle of the supply closet, staring at all of us with her eight eyes, was Tulip.
‘WE FOUND TULIP!’ Zoe shouted, as if it wasn’t obvious.
I didn’t know what to do. We’d achieved our goal of finding Tulip, but now we were LOCKED IN A CLOSET WITH A GIANT TARANTULA. I was feeling extremely unprepared. And to make matters worse, I could hear Bernard starting to panic-breathe next to me.
‘SLOW deep breaths, Bernard,’ I said.
He looked like he was almost about to cry.
‘But, Sam,’ he said.
‘We’re LOCKED IN.’
‘WITH A GIANT SPIDER,’ Zoe added. She started coughing. ‘I think I’m allergic to Tulip. I can’t get any closer.’
I didn’t want to get any nearer to Tulip, but I knew it had to be me. I was the one who needed to prove I wasn’t a scaredy-cat after all.
I imagined what Spaceman Jack would do. He’d do what had to be done. I put on my beekeeper helmet and the gardening glove I’d taken off.
Tulip raised her front legs and started hissing.
I began to sweat.
‘Quick, Sam! Before she disappears somewhere in here,’ Zoe said. She was standing on her toes on the footstool, as far away from Tulip as she could get. I was almost surprised she hadn’t started climbing up the shelves lining the small supply closet.
‘But I don’t know what to do!’ I wailed. ‘Well, what was your grand plan?’ said Zoe.
Bernard had stopped speaking and was just standing with his back to a shelf, mumbling to himself.
‘It definitely didn’t involve being locked in a closet,’ I said.
‘Here!’ said Zoe, reaching up and grabbing a bucket from a shelf. ‘Use this!’ She tossed the bucket to me and I caught it.
I held the bucket out towards Tulip, who was still hissing. She started to back away from me, and I knew I had to be fast.
I lunged forward and threw the bucket on top of her. Success! We’d trapped Tulip!
Zoe cheered, and even Bernard managed a shaky thumbs-up.
But then the bucket BEGAN TO MOVE.
‘Ahh!’ yelled Zoe.
‘AHH!’ I yelled.
Bernard might have been yelling too, but no sound actually came out of his mouth and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.
‘Quick,’ said Zoe. ‘You have to sit on the bucket to keep Tulip from GETTING AWAY!’
The last thing I wanted to do was get any closer to the bucket – or Tulip – but I knew Zoe was right. I skirted round the bucket a bit, wiggling my bottom into the right position, and then sat down on top of it. I shivered as I heard Tulip scuttling around inside it, but at least the bucket wasn’t moving any more.
‘Now what?’ said Zoe.
‘We’re going to be trapped in here forever!’ Bernard wailed.
‘No we aren’t,’ I said. ‘Someone will come in eventually. You two, bang on the door and shout as loudly as you can!’ I looked at Bernard. ‘You have to do it, Bernard. It’s the only way we’ll get out!’
Zoe hopped off the footstool. ‘Come on, Bernard,’ she said. And then she started banging on the door with her fists and yelling as loudly as she could.
Bernard began shouting too.
And even though I couldn’t help bang on the door because I had to stay sitting on the bucket so Tulip didn’t escape again, I yelled too.
Zoe found another bucket and used that to hit the door, which was way louder than her fists had been.
It was so loud inside the cupboard, I could barely hear myself think! I just hoped that someone outside could hear us too.
And then just as I started to think that we were going to end up having a cupboard sleepover with a GIANT SPIDER, the door began to open.
Zoe and Bernard jumped back out of the way. A familiar face appeared.
‘What is going on in here?’
I never thought I would be so happy to see Mr Dougal!
I almost jumped off the bucket right then and there, but remembered I needed to stay put so Tulip didn’t get out.
Bernard didn’t wait another second – he pushed past Mr Dougal and ran out into the open corridor, his arms flung wide open.
‘We found Tulip!’ Zoe said, pointing at me sitting on an overturned bucket, wearing a beekeeper hat and gardening gloves.
‘She’s under the bucket,’ I explained.
Mr Dougal’s face lit up. ‘Marvellous!’ he said. ‘Simply marvellous!’
‘We came in here looking for her, and then the door shut and locked us in,’ Zoe explained. ‘We’re not sure what to do now.’
‘You did exactly the right thing, although I imagine Tulip must be very alarmed with all the racket you were making!’ He eyed the bucket underneath me. ‘Now the question is how we get Tulip out from under there, and back in her tank. I’ve got a whole bag of insects for her – she must be very hungry.’
I gulped. I hoped she wasn’t hungry enough to try to take a bite out of me!
‘If we slide a piece of cardboard under the bucket, that should work,’ mused Mr Dougal.
‘How did Tulip escape in the first place?’ I asked.
Mr Dougal’s cheeks turned red. ‘Instead of putting her back in her tank, like I should have done after showing her to your class, I set Tulip down on my desk. I’ve done it before, and usually she just sits there, much like a small contented cat, but this time she leaped off and ran into the hallway before anyone could stop her!’ He hurried on. ‘I’m ever so indebted to you all for finding her. I would have been DEVASTATED if she’d been lost for good! I must say, your methods are unusual, but clearly work.’ Understanding flashed across his face. ‘And I’m guessing you are responsible for the honey all along the halls?’
Zoe and I nodded. ‘We thought the honey could catch Tulip, or at least catch some flies to lure her.’
Mr Dougal stroked his chin and nodded. ‘That seems perfectly logical to me.’
‘Mr Dougal,’ I said, ‘do you think you could try to move Tulip now? I’ve been sitting on this bucket for a long time.’
‘Oh, of course!’ said Mr Dougal. He looked around the supply closet and then grabbed a plastic folder. ‘This will work even better th
an cardboard.’
I hopped off the bucket, and watched as Mr Dougal deftly slid the plastic folder under the bucket, and then lifted it up. I could see the shadow and shape of Tulip scampering around, but she didn’t get out. ‘Come along, Tulip,’ Mr Dougal sang. ‘Time to go home.’
Zoe and I followed Mr Dougal into the science lab, just to be sure that Tulip made it back into her tank. He slid her into the glass cage gently, and she immediately scuttled over to a giant leaf.
‘Make sure to close the lid!’ I said. I knew from experience that sometimes creatures get out of their enclosures when you least expect it.
‘Thank you both for your help,’ said Mr Dougal, smiling at us. He looked around. ‘Weren’t there three of you?’
‘Bernard didn’t like being locked in the closet,’ I explained. ‘He’s probably outside getting some fresh air.’
‘Very wise,’ said Mr Dougal. ‘But as I was saying, thank you – all of you – for your help. I’m very impressed by your bravery and creativity. Don’t worry about the honey mess you made – I’ll clean that up. And I’ll write your teacher a note explaining why you are late for class, and that you saved the day. Hopefully she can give you some extra credit or something.’
‘That’s okay,’ I said. ‘We didn’t find Tulip for extra credit. We did it because we knew we were the only ones who could.’ And I felt braver than I ever had.
‘Well, you can always come back and visit Tulip any time you like,’ said Mr Dougal.
‘I think we’ve probably seen enough of Tulip for now,’ said Zoe politely. ‘But thank you.’
When we got back to class, Bernard was already there, standing at the front and telling everyone what had happened. Ms Winkleworth looked slightly sceptical.