Spiders.

Freaky little things with eight legs, multiple beady eyes, and hidden fangs. They lurk out of sight until their victims aimlessly wander into their webs, then they zip over and wrap them up so they can suck their vital juices later. Just the thought of them gives me the heebie-jeebies and makes me squirm. Uuughghghghgh.

Nothing scares me more than spiders.  I won’t go near them. I used to get my oldest daughter to “take care of them” for me. It didn’t matter how big or how small. If I didn’t have to get close to it, I wasn’t going to. Wanna hear me scream like a little school girl? Let there be a spider on me. I will shriek and dance around like I’ve lost my mind. Trust me, it’s not a pretty sight.

But unfortunately, this is the time of year when they are everywhere. They’re in people’s yards, dangling from roof tops and tree limbs, showing off their cotton and rope webs in the corners of porches or draped across bushes. I’ve even seen a few crawling out of jack-o-lanterns. Yep, those icky creatures have become a popular decoration for one of my favorite times of the year, Halloween.

I suppose spiders fit in rather well on this day. Arachnids do have the ultimate, creepy reputation and Halloween is all about being spooked. You have all the vampires, witches, and zombies roaming about sneaking up on unsuspecting humans. The fog and spooky music, cats howling and owls screeching lend to the feeling of apprehension and fear. The haunted houses with ghosts popping out at you when you least expect them and the dripping of blood from the knife held by the man in the hockey mask just waiting for you to walk past.

A few disgusting crawly things mixed into all that does tend to complete the nightmarish effect we all seek on Halloween. I guess I can deal with them for this one day. I  mean, I won’t embarrass myself by wiggling and worming around trying to get as far away from them as possible because they’re just decorations. They can’t jump on me or bite me with their little venomous fangs. I’ll be fine, nothing to worry about.

Wait , did I just feel something crawling on my shoulder?