My Laundry Room

I can't remember how much I've described my apartment to you, but I may have mentioned at some point that my washing machine is on the balcony. There are also a few poles for hanging laundry from to dry. Since the balcony isn't any good for sitting on (cramped and ugly), I've come to think of it as my laundry room.

Last week while doing laundry, I made an unfortunate discovery. Hanging on a web above and opposite my sliding door was a giant spider. It was black and yellow with long, spindly legs. Its body wasn't too large, but with its legs stretched out it would've filled the palm of my hand. When I noticed it, I was standing in front of the washing machine, which meant that it was between me and the door to the apartment. It took a little while before I could convince myself to sprint under it to go back inside. Once inside the apartment with the sliding door safely closed, I stared at it for a while. It was hideous.

I know that most spiders are harmless, and I'm fairly certain this spider was as well, but I've always been afraid of them. The shape of their limbs, the way they move, everything about spiders disturbs me. Once I knew the spider was out there, I wondered how I would be able to convince myself to go back and get my laundry. My worst fear was that it would end up touching me; maybe it would fall off its web as I was walking under it, or maybe it would find its way into my laundry. I wasn't even worried about being bitten, the thing that scared me the most was the possibility of physical contact with the giant spider.

Since I couldn't convince myself to leave the spider there and go about my normal business, I knew that I'd have to kill it somehow. I mentally rehearsed what I would do. Once I had brought in my laundry, I would stand inside the doorway and spray it with spider poison. I bought a can not long after moving in and hearing stories of huntsman spiders. Once I sprayed it, the spider would most likely be knocked off its web and go skittering around like crazy. At that point I'd either have to keep spraying it or stomp on it. I was concerned it might end up behind my washing machine and I'd never know if it was dead or just hiding. That possibility disturbed me since I've always gone out on the balcony barefoot. In any case, I couldn't put the plan into effect immediately since I needed to wait for my laundry to dry.

A few days passed without me taking any action. I generally don't get home from work until after dark, and I didn't want to do it at night since there are no lights on the balcony and I wanted to be able to see exactly where the spider was at all times. I considered waiting for Mom and Brett to get here so one of them could kill it for me, but I need to do more laundry before they come.

Today I was looking at the spider again and noticed that its legs and body were at strange angles. Well, that's kind of always the case with spiders, but I started to wonder if this one might be dead. I'd never seen it move, after all. Maybe the cold had killed it and I'd been afraid of a dead spider this whole time. I found that thought reassuring. So I finally collected my laundry off the racks, watching the most likely dead spider the whole time.

Now that I knew the spider might be dead, the way I envisioned my plan had changed. I'd spray it with the spider poison just to be sure it was dead. The spray might knock the spider down, and then I'd stomp it with my boot to squish it. I no longer had to worry about it running around, so I felt less afraid. Spiders frighten me the most when they're moving, and some of them are very fast.

I finally had the confidence to attempt my plan. I put on my boots, grabbed the can of spider spray, and opened the sliding door. Standing just inside the doorway, I sprayed the spider. No response. Just in case I hadn't hit it directly, I sprayed it again. Then it started moving. Hanging from the web by one leg, it writhed slowly. I slammed the door shut and stayed nearby to keep an eye on where it was. If it fell off the web, I'd need to swoop in for the kill. For a few minutes, it dangled there with its legs flailing. Eventually its legs curled in and it stopped moving. I had killed it, and it hadn't even fallen off its web.

The next thing I needed to do was knock it down and get rid of it. I was nervous about this step as well since the spider was way up in the air, and there was the potential that it could fall down on me. It looked at least as creepy dead as it had when it was alive. Plus, I had thought it was dead once already; what if I was wrong again? I stood around for a few minutes staring at the spider, my puny broom in my hands. I got my broom at the 100 yen store, and it just barely comes up to my hip. This was less than reassuring. I wanted to be as far away from the spider as possible, but I didn't have a lot of options for things to knock it down with. Eventually I forced myself to open the door again and attempt it. I raised the broom above my head, aimed, and swiped at the spider. I made a loud and involuntary squealing noise when the broom crashed down with the spider stuck to it. But the spider didn't move, and I knew that it was dead for good.

At this point I was shaking, so I closed the door again and stopped to calm down a bit. The next step wasn't that much more pleasant; I had to pick the spider up somehow and dispose of it. Since I didn't like the thought of just scooping it up, I decided to put a paper towel over it and stomp it before I tried picking it up. This resulted in a strange spider-print on the paper towel. Squished body and wickedly curved legs. I grabbed about three more paper towels and scraped the body off the floor. If I'd thought to use toilet paper, I could've flushed it. As it stands, the spider's body is now in my garbage can. I'm glad tomorrow is burnable trash day.

So, I'm finally rid of the spider. Even though I know it's gone, I'm still a little scared to go back out on the balcony. I checked for additional spiders and didn't see any. But from now on, I'll probably find myself looking up at that corner before going out, just to assure myself the spider really isn't there. And now I can do my laundry again in peace.