Okay, I just have to share this. I think I mentioned that we will be hosting a Halloween party, the Saturday before Halloween. Mr. Rilch has loaded up on decorations, and one of them was a fake spider. About the size of a car battery, brown and hairy.
So Izzy had a friend over yesterday afternoon, and they were helping Mr. Rilch and me with some of the setup, like raking the yard and testing fairy lights. During this, it was established that Izzy does not have an actual phobia of spiders; she just doesn’t like them. I went in earlier than the others, to make dinner, and when they all came in, Izzy wanted to take a shower before eating*. While she was upstairs, Mr. Rilch got the idea to put Aragog just outside her door. Sarah, the friend, thought that would be funny, and I didn’t object.
Mr. Rilch and Sarah were in the dining room when Izzy came down, and I was in the kitchen, so I was the only one who saw her reaction. And honestly, it was funny, and cute, that she didn’t even see the spider at first. She pushed the door further open and walked past it. Then, something must have registered, because she turned around and saw it.
But, she didn’t shriek, or leap in the air or anything that we’d anticipated. She stood with her hand over her mouth, just staring, and I went forward and said “It’s okay,” and like that. And took her hand, which she barely let me do.
So, yeah, that kind of fell flat. See, just for a second, she thought there might really be spiders that big in these parts. And in fact, there are. Not super common, thank heavens, but I’ve seen them. Mr. Rilch apologized sincerely; I hope there’s no lasting harm done. Anyway, someone her age could be in the Peace Corps, in places a lot riskier than here!
*She is the cleanest person I have ever seen. She’s more thorough (and frequent) in her cleaning of her bathroom than I am with mine. (Then again, I have a full bath with a shower and a half-bath, while she’s only responsible for the downstairs half-bath.)
