“It’s a daring jumping spider, Phidippus audax I think. But it killed a black widow.”
“Wow,” the blond girl said as she dug through her purse.
“Oh come on, that’s cool. Widows aren’t aggressive, but they don’t have that many natural enemies either. That’s a big kill for the jumper,” Alice snapped photos while she spoke.
“Good for him.”
“See how the widow’s abdomen is all shriveled? Phidippus don’t spin webs. He’s sucking her dry as we speak, he’ll just carry her around until she’s empty.”
“Gross. I thought you weren’t a spider studier.”
“Arachnologist, no, but all aspects of the natural world…”
“Hold wonder, I know.”
“Sheesh, Sisko, I can feel your eye-roll with my back turned.”
“Are you gonna put one of those pictures on your profile for that dating site we talked about.”
“I told you I’m not doing that.” Alice stood and offered her little sister a sardonic smile before she opened the screen door and let her in. Alice watched Sisko check the door jambs and ceilings and smiled as she rhythmically brushed each arm twice then ran her hand from the top of her head to the ends of her smooth hair. Alice refused to rid her house of spiders. They walked to the kitchen, Alice got glasses and a pitcher of iced tea.
“How’s Mom?” Alice asked. Sisko rolled her eyes again.
“Dad and I have a pact, if this new therapist doesn’t work were dumping her body in the ocean.”
“She’s still refusing to talk to me?”
“Until a mother approved profile has been posted on a mother approved dating site.”
“Which is the purpose of this unscheduled visit I suppose.” Alice offered Sisko a slice of lemon for her iced tea. Sisko’s fingers clicked along her phone’s keyboard, ignoring the lemon. Grinning, Alice squeezed it, squirting juice all over Sisko’s phone and T-shirt. Sisko nearly dropped her phone as she jumped back from the kitchen island where they stood. She stared at Alice with her mouth open in shock.
“Alice! My shirt is dirty now.”
“It’s lemon juice, Kiddo, it’s not going to hurt anything.”
“It’s dirty.”
“You can’t even see it. It may as well be water.”
“I can smell it. Oh my God, I can smell it. I can’t walk around the rest of the day like this.” Sisko set her phone down and wiped it off with a soft cloth she pulled from her purse, then she grabbed her keys and stomped out of the kitchen with a wicked glance at Alice. Alice laughed and squeezed the remaining juice from the lemon slice into her glass. She hopped up on a stool at the counter and snatched a notepad and pen lying near her.
“June 13, 2009:
Spotted a Phidippus audax with a partially desiccated Latrodectus hesperus in its chelicerae just outside the front door. Took lots of pictures. I think it (P. audax) must live in the flax plants in the garden. I can see now why they are called ‘daring’ jumping spiders. It was a jarring image; my usual subjects of study are so gentle and graceful that these reminders of how violent the bug world is always make me giddy.”
The front door slammed and Alice heard Sisko tromping up the stairs to the master bedroom. She closed the note pad and followed.
“That’s a cute shirt,” Alice said as a peace offering. Sisko, clad in a new T-shirt, was bent over her bathroom sink, scrubbing the lemon juice out of her old shirt.
“Not as cute as the one you got dirty.”
“How’s your therapy going?”
“Funny. I don’t need therapy. I need a sister who isn’t a thoughtless jerk.” Sisko released drain and wrenched the faucet, sending a stream of hot water over the now clean shirt.
“I could have just thrown that in the laundry you know.”
“Oh, so it could sit for a week with acid on it? No way.”
“So what was your scheduled activity today, before Mom made you come here?”
“Baa gets a new delivery today. I planned on going over there to see if they got anything I don’t already have. I need more bamboo yarn, I can’t even work on anything if I don’t have some in my stash. It’s all I can think about. Need more bamboo, need more bamboo, need more bamboo. And if I don’t get there by eleven, then my blog will get posted late, then I’ll have to cook diner for P and M on time so that means I won’t get my ironing or knitting done or my website updated until late.” she pressed the shirt against the side of the sink to get the excess water out. And then looked around the room. Alice just watched her, she’d seen this routine at least a hundred times, probably more. Sisko grabbed a clean hand towel from the cabinet and stood on the edge of the bathtub while she wiped the shower curtain rod clean. Then she took the T-shirt and hung it over the rod.
“Why don’t you just go to Baa now. We’ll just tell Mom we made a profile.”
“Nope. She wants logins, passwords, everything. She wants proof.” Sisko dried her hands. Alice furrowed her brow as Sisko walked past her to Alice’s office.
“I really have to do this?”
“Sit.” Sisko demanded.
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