True Animal Tale : Cellar Spider

photo by Ryszard Paprzycki

I started running bathwater before noticing that there was a cellar spider in the tub. I helped it out but it kept falling in over and over off my hand. I put it on the ledge above the tub, opened the window for it to dry off. 

It looked at me with the most intense posture I've ever seen in a cellar spider. Kept looking. I held in my tummy! 

When I got in the bath, it came down toward me, stayed there while we looked at each other up close. Then, I lay back, and it came over by me. I sat up later and it moved closer to where I was then. 

Fell in again two more times.

I put my face against the wall and it ran toward me. 

Reached out a leg and touched me.

It comes to visit me in my bedroom periodically. It gets on my bed, comes over to me, and we stare at each other close up. Then it returns to the bathroom. 

When I'm sitting in the bath, it comes down to me and we stare close up. When I lean back in the bath, it follows me back.