It wasn’t until
late Friday evening that we became aware of the outbreak, and by then it was
too late. The window for containment – the containment of whatever it was that we
were dealing with – was closed, but still we went through the motions of
containing it.
Zero Zero was the
first to go. He was a gorgeous arboreal avicularia versicolor we’d had for four
years and oh, he was my pride and joy, so much so I’d had his name tattooed across
my back.
We found him Friday just after the evening news, with his legs curled up beneath him and largely
unresponsive, looking like the new Goliath looked when she’d arrived.
Madame Guillotine
was next, and then Soma Bath, and then Astrid and Poppy Day. And Lucifer
Landed, well, she was still twitching as I laid her out on copy paper to poke and
to prod for mites or fleas – for anything that might explain what was killing all
the spiders.
