Suburban Spiders

One thing I won't miss about the suburbs: spiders.

When Tiffany and I first moved in with our friends on Long Island in August, we encountered so many spiderwebs while running in the early morning that I soon took to holding my arm up in front of my face to intercept the sticky webs. Tiffany hit one spider full on and took off her t-shirt right then and there--arachnophobic-Brandi-Chastain-style rather than risk running with him in tow.

I don't know where spiders live in the city, but they don't have time to build webs. Too many people walking to and fro. Maybe city spiders have co-ops.

Anyway, I've learned to spot the tell-tale shine of the silk draping across my path and to watch out for spots where a web could be connected across the sidewalk: two bushes, a stop sign and a bush, a tree and a stop sign, and so on and so on. Rather than risk getting tangled up, I began walking and running in the street. Tiffany did too.

The other night, we were walking home from the train in the middle of the street and a car raced past us, driving much too fast for pedestrian traffic.

"Slow down!" I shouted, raising my arm up but keeping my middle-finger down (Tiffany does not like it when I am road enraged). I hoped I wasn't yelling at one of our hosts' neighbors. "I mean, geez, people are walking here!"

Tiffany and I looked at each other. Then we looked at the sidewalk. And, since we hadn't seen a spider since the temperature started to drop, we headed toward it.