Sammy the Sad Spider
Story Three
In the summer, Sammy Spider stayed inside a silent school. There he spun his silky web and snagged insects. Sammy was a sad spider. He couldn't sing like a songbird. He didn't slither like a snake or sit like a setter. No, the students didn't smile when they saw him. What did they do? They screamed and slapped at him! They even searched his secret hiding spots so they could smash him!
Sammy Spider didn't want to be snuggled or stroked by the students. He didn't want to be stuck in a stupid jar. Sammy Spider only wanted to sit silently and see the students study. Couldn't they see how special he was? His eight legs were so long and slender, and his body was sleek and soft. Wasn't it silly for the students to be scared of such a small animal?
In September, the students swarmed into the school. They skipped down the halls and shouted at each other. Sammy Spider was smart. He snuck back to his secret spot in the science room. In the shadows of a seldom-used sack of salt, he stayed until the students left.
One day he was spinning a web across the science room when the students swarmed into the room. The girls shrieked and the boys shouted.
"SPIDER! Somebody squash him!"
Someone swung a sweater at him and split his web. He swished through the air and slammed against the solid wall. He staggered away, seeking his secret spot. But a student spied him and sped forward. Sammy Spider ran faster, but the student was soon over him. The student was ready to strike, but suddenly something strange happened.
"Let him alone!" One student shouted, stopping the other student. "See? He's a good spider. He isn't black with a red hourglass on his stomach. Do you see a fiddle on his back? He won't hurt you."
The other student stopped and stared at Sammy Spider. "Humph!" he said. "I hate spiders! They're ugly."
The good student laughed. "If it's OK to hate something because it's ugly, I bet everybody hates you!"
All the students laughed. Then they circled around Sammy Spider and stared. Sammy Spider scrunched into a ball and pretended he was sleeping. One of the students stuck a finger at him and Sammy Spider sprang in the air. The student shrank back.
"Did you see that? He tried to bite me!"
The good student stabbed the scared one with a stiff finger. "How do you like to be poked? Let's see what the spider does when we leave him alone?"
For the rest of the school season, Sammy Spider sat in science class. The students saw him every day, but they didn't scream. They said he was their special spider and they named him arachnid. The science teacher said that was the scientific name for spider. But Sammy Spider didn't care what they called him. Sammy Spider wasn't sad any more. Sammy Spider got to see the students study, and that made him smile.
The End
