“Yeah! Isn’t it swell?” Raven asked cheerfully, stroking her pet tarantula in its case. I eyed it nervously; Raven was well aware of my arachnophobia. She had put Harriet on my head before.

“I don’t know about that,” I muttered, looking away from hairy Harriet.

Raven heard me and sighed. “Mandi, you have to overcome this. Harriet isn’t going away, and you can’t leave me friendless, can you?” She smiled, but only briefly. “I need you to take care of her, starting tomorrow. Mum and I are leaving to visit my aunt for a few weeks.”

“Can’t Nessa do it?”

“Out of town as well.”

“Gladys?”

“Same.”

“Rosemary?”

“Hates spiders.”

“I hate spiders!”

“No, you just fear them. Rose’d kill Harriet.”

Rose’d do the world a lot of good. But I agreed in the end, after seeking my mum’s consent. I paid my older brother to feed it while I waited outside. One Saturday he came out too soon and told me that Harriet was gone.

“Gone?”

“Dead.”

“And on National Save a Spider Day. Shame. Say, when does the pet store open?”

© 2007 Tiffany F. Original for CCF (Tiffany F. grants CCF first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).

*CCF does not publish students' last names on the work they submit for publication.