~ Tato ~

by

Kathe Goglewski

Thirteen

The Insect Room

“Uh-oh,” Tato gulped as the door to the insect room swung fully open, “insects maybe looking different now.”

“Uh, yeah,” Michael said, “bigger, I think.”

“Much, much bigger,” Nicole remarked as the first one, a gigantic spider towering high above them crawled out onto the hallway floor. Although it was only one-half inch tall in reality, it might as well have been ten feet high and twenty feet long, since that is how it appeared to the little company now that they were reduced to the size of peas.

The spider was brown, with long spiky hairs all over it, even on the abdomen. A pair of hairy and pulpy looking sacs swayed beneath the eyes. Michael knew these were the fangs, which were filled with poison. They ended in hard pointed claws used for seizing and stabbing their prey.

The fangs alone on this monster appeared more six feet long to the trio. They were tight and full, ready to burst. The claws on the end were curved inward, and faced each other like two long drawn swords.

As it ventured out a little ways, it turned slowly around, like a huge ship in a harbor. The little party stood transfixed, as if they were watching a being from another planet. The sheer size of it made Michael feel faint.

Finally the rear came into view. Liquid was oozing out from dozens of spinning and whirring tubes in the rump. The liquids combined and hardened in the air to make a huge silken rope, about the same thickness as the trunk of a sapling. Michael knew this was the spinneret of the spider, where silk was released for making webs and draglines, which the spider used to fall through the air. As the beast continued turning, the spinneret left a silken trail behind it.

Spilling out around the creature, dozens more spiders flowed into the hallway. Most were about the same size, but a few were smaller and some, to their utter surprise, were even larger. One of these sauntered into view with a slow mechanical stride, carrying a darkly colored and bulbous abdomen high on eight exceptionally long legs. Michael looked up at the underbelly and spotted a large red hourglass, which he recognized as the female black widow. The children flattened themselves against the wall in fear.

The next invasion of creatures advanced slowly behind the first. Numerous weevils, or snout beetles, along with ladybugs, fireflies, ants, and some green aphids poured out the door. Some of the beetles were extremely fierce looking, with long horns protruding from an iron-like mask resembling the head of a rhinoceros. Their hard unyielding bodies made them look like armored tanks as they coursed into view.

The hall was now infested with giant insects.

Paralyzed with fear, the little troupe was only vaguely aware of the buzzing, until they felt the wind against their faces. It came out of nowhere, hovering over them and slightly off to one side as it studied them. It was as big as a bus with legs that dangled forever. A brilliant set of black and yellow stripes glistened on the abdomen. The wings were beating so rapidly as to appear invisible, and the sudden gust created when the beast arrived nearly knocked them over. Michael covered his ears to protect them from the thunderous buzzing.

The children edged themselves down the wall, away from the insect. Luckily, it did not follow. Suddenly Nicole, who was leading their retreat, stumbled backwards into a crack in the wall. It was twice as tall as she was.

“Here! Quick, come in here!”

Michael and Tato followed her into the hole. Michael realized they were actually inside the wall and could feel the cavity extend into the drafty darkness. From this position, they could see clearly out into the hallway and peered timidly through the crack, strangely captivated by the grotesque dance of the colossal insects and spiders. Every time one of them brushed close by, Michael could feel the booming vibrations in his feet.

“What was that flying thing back there anyway?” Nicole asked, obviously still thinking about their narrow escape.

“It was a hornet. A wasp,” Michael told her, “They eat nectar from flowers, not meat, and that’s why it probably left us alone.”

“How do you know that?”

“Gankum taught me,” Michael said. “He taught me a lot about insects and spiders from when we used to garden together.” It was then that a weevil the size of a small automobile startled them as it clambered up the wall almost on top of their little hiding place. One leg even slipped in and tapped Michael on the head as it scuttled away.

“And w-what do they eat?” Nicole asked.

“That’s a beetle,” Michael said, “and it eats plants. Many of the beetles in this room do because they are weevils, and the ladybugs eat other bugs... so I don’t think they want us either.”

“Well, good,” Nicole said hesitantly. “Is there anything you see out there that might consider us a meal?” Michael nodded slowly. “Well?” Nicole insisted, her voice trembling.

“Spiders. I think spiders are the worst ones out there.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Michael indicated a spider roving nearby, “you see that mouth part under the fangs?”

“Uh-huh,” Nicole said eyeballing the mouth flanked by an enormous pair of lightly swaying fangs.

“They won’t eat you with their mouth because they can’t chew anything,” Michael began. Nicole bit her lip, clearly waiting for the bad news. “Instead they form like a straw with their mouths and they suck up your blood.” A pause hung in the air. Nicole blinked and swallowed.

“Oh, great,” she said at last, “I feel so much better.” She swiped her brow with the back of her hand pretending to act relieved. Michael and Tato stared at her briefly before they all burst into laughter. The knot that had been living in Michael’s stomach dissolved into a giggling fit. It felt wonderful to forget, if only for the moment, about the danger that lurked all around them.

Michael was not sure what actually happened next until after he picked himself up from the floor. He had seen nothing, but had felt the rush of a large torso invade their little space and bump him hard before retreating just as quickly. He looked around for Nini but she was missing. How could she disappear so suddenly?

“Nini?” he called uncertainly, stepping numbly into the hallway.

As it slowly it dawned on him what must have just happened, his breaths became shorter and quicker. His eyes scanned the room as he struggled not to panic and wondered in amazement how everything could have changed so quickly.

Then he spotted her! Or at least he spotted her arms and legs... they were dangling from the clutch of a brown spider as tall as a horse, her torso hidden behind the enormous poison sacs. The spider was fleeing rapidly across the floor with several other spiders in hot pursuit.

“Nini!” Michael screamed again, but she didn’t hear him.