Don't try to kill it unless you can be sure of success

Does that apply to spiders?

I was walking to bed last night, carrying a baby, when I saw a spider that looked like a daddy long legs on 'roids. It was a web builder and it was web building right in the hallway, like it had a death wish. I decided to make good on its death wish and took a swipe at it. It fell to the floor all wushu style (slowly, gracefully, merely touching the wall a few times to glide effortlessly through space) and then scurried away. I tried to track it but it was nowhere to be seen.

Then I wondered if it could smell me, and if it would follow me to my bed where it would bite my nose, or leave a note tacked with webbing on my forehead warning me to never mess with 'roid-ish spiders if I knew what was good for me. What if it was a lazy, wealthy spider that would simply hire little earwig thugs to teach me a lesson? They would saw the head off a cricket and leave it on my pillow to freak me out, a la The Godfather.

I related these musing to Man who gave me what my friend C calls "the [Man] look" which, apparently, Frieda gets on her face quite often. As we chuckled over the whole notion we said good night to each other and I told him to not let the Vengeance Spiders (tm) bite. He laughed and said "no, that would be your problem." I felt a chill come over me but I laughed it off.

And then, as I tried to train my mind into sleep mode, I felt a little itchy all over until I finally drifted off.

I havn't seen Mr. Spidey 'Roid since. Maybe he took my warning to heart and set up shop in a nice compost heap. That'll teach him.