Chow Time!

CHOW TIME

      Awakening from its quiescent period just as the moon began to rise in the east, the spider ventured from its resting place to investigate its most recent spoils. Some evenings were better than others, and as the arachnid carefully made her way onto her intricate web, she could sense by the vibrations through her feet that tonight she would have a bountiful harvest.

    Most of the catch was of the normal variety — flies, moths, butterflies, the occasional bee — but there was one in particular she could see with the limited vision of her eight eyes that seemed rather strange. It appeared to be struggling a little more than usual. Figuring this one might actually be able to escape her trap, she quickly decided that it should be taken care of first.

    Climbing up to where the ensnared creature was fighting so frantically to break free from the sticky strands of her web, she positioned herself for the easiest way in which she could make the kill.

    She began by jabbing her short fangs, which worked much like a pair of hypodermic needles, as deep as she could into her prey. The creature continued to thrash about, but as she began injecting it with the paralytic venom from her salivary glands, its violent movements quickly subsided, and any hope of escape or survival it once had was now gone.

    The next thing she did was to regurgitate her digestive enzymes and start pumping them into her victim in order to liquefy it from the inside out. It was a time-consuming process depending on the size, and this one was a little larger than usual.

    As soon as the insides were sufficiently liquefied, she began using her jaws to further masticate her meal. It was only after that when she started to suck the food into her mouth. Granted she had to repeat the process a few times, but it was well worth the effort.

    When she had finally finished devouring her meal, the spider moved onto her next victims, and whatever she couldn’t finish, she expertly wrapped up tightly with her silk and kept for another time.

    The only thing that remained of her first delicacy was the hollow husk of the tiny human being which had so tragically become entangled in her gossamer lacework.



(388 Words)