Emily and The Spider
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“Yes daddy” replied Emily.
“I am afraid that I have some bad news” he said and Emily looked intently at him. “We are going to have to move sweetheart. You see, the people that I work for have given me a job somewhere else…..”
Emily did not let him finish. She ran as fast as she could into the jungle, crying. She knew what this meant.
The hours passed as Emily sat at the base of a very large tree. Goliath was the first to find her, when everyone was getting worried about where she was.
“Emily, what’s the matter?” he said.
“Oh, Goliath! My daddy says that we are moving away and I don’t know when I will see you all again!”
“Well, I suppose that I knew this day would come. Children get older, spiders get bigger” he nodded to Bes, who had just joined them at the tree. “I know it’s hard, but you must go with your family” he said.
“But, you’re my family too” Emily said through her tears.
“You can come visit” said Bird. “We don’t want you to go either, but Goliath is right, you should go with your family.”
“No he isn’t” Bes said angrily as she crawled up Emily’s arm. “Don’t leave me, I need you” she cried.
Emily sat there sadly, with her friends, and she knew that she would soon have to leave her friends. “I promise, I promise you all, that one day I will come back ,come back here and we can all be together. Together again. I am so sorry. I will miss you all terribly” and with that she ran back to the house, crying.
Finally, the day had arrived, the day of the move. Rather appropriately, it was raining and all in all a miserable day.
The large removal van was being loaded up with all their possessions and ‘Little Em’ knew that, in just a short time, she would leave this place.
She had asked her daddy earlier, what had happened to Miss Perivale and was told that she had mysteriously disappeared. All Emily had replied was “oh, how sad”, not really meaning it at all.
She hadn’t seen her friends all day, but she was glad of this. She was going to find it very difficult to say goodbye to Bird, Bes and Goliath. In fact, she was dreading it.
The rain poured down as Emily walked slowly to the car. Her daddy opened the back door and she climbed in, her heart as heavy as a rock. The car began to pull off and make its way down the dusty driveway, when suddenly Emily’s dad stopped sharply.
“Emily, I think there’s someone who wants to say goodbye” he said.
He opened the Emily’s door and pointed. “Over there” he whispered.
Emily looked to where her dad had pointed. There, by the roadside, just under a sign, was Bes, Bird and Goliath, all soaking wet, waiting to say their final goodbyes to Emily.
“This is hurting” said Bes as she crawled up Emily’s arm. “Please come back soon”.
Goliath sat there, with Bird on his back, who for the first time ever, had nothing to say. He just raised his little blue and green wing and waved as ‘Little Em’ got back into the car and drove off.
Her crying could be heard for a long time, mingled with the rain. Then all was quiet. Goliath, Bes and Bird just sat there, in the rain, not speaking, not moving.
Chapter 16 – Return to old friends
(20 years later)
The large white house had stood empty for a great many years. Vines and bushes had started to cover much of it and it no longer looked as splendid as it once had. The ‘For Sale’ sign had been covered over now with a ‘Sold’ sign and this was nailed to the front porch.
Bes had gotten much bigger and had made a nice home for herself up in the rafters, not too far from where she was born.
Bird lived up in the roof space with his wife and five children!
Goliath came and went. Every few months he would come and visit Bes and Bird and always ask the same question, “Any news yet, has she come back?” And the answer would always be the same, “not yet my old friend, but she will, she will”.
Today was to be Goliath’s last visit, as he was now very old and had decided to live out the rest of his days in the jungle, as best he could.
He had come to the house to say his goodbyes to Bes and Bird. His aching legs carried him up the steps to the veranda, where he slowly walked around. “Still takes half and hour” he said to himself.
“Hello old friend” said a voice behind him, one that he did not recognize. He slowly turned to see where the voice came from. Before him stood a beautiful woman, who looked vaguely familiar.
“Seen any tigers around here lately?” the woman asked.
“Emily, is that you?” he asked disbelievingly. “It is you, isn’t it? I don’t believe it! Bird, Bes, quick, quick come here” he shouted.
Bird flew over to Goliath to see what all the fuss was about.
“Well, you took your time, young lady!” said Bird.
“Oh Bird, Goliath, I am so happy to be back”. Said Emily as she picked up Goliath and hugged him tightly, as bird shouted “Mother, Mother!! Bring the kids, she’s back, she’s back!
Emily was so happy to be home at last she placed Goliath back on the floor and asked “Where is Bes?”
The little girl stood on the stool and looked up at the spiders web. She had a handkerchief in her pocket, which she carefully pulled out and opened up. Inside the handkerchief were lots of dead flies. Her mummy had told her where to find them. So she had collected as many as she could. She carefully began to throw the flies into the web. “Want some food?” she asked.
“My name is Grace. What is yours?” Said the little girl not really expecting any sort of answer.
The big orange stripey spider crawled out of it’s dark hiding place and came face to face with the little girl.
“Why, my name is Bes” she said.
The little girl fell off the stool and ran away shouting “Mummy, mummy, a talking spider!”
The End