My Spider Friend

Not long after moving to Los Angeles a spider befriended my car. Well, the passenger-side mirror of my car to be exact. I parked on the street of the cute neighborhood in front of my first apartment every day, next to little stretches of grass and beneath the shade of trees that lined the sidewalks. Since Los Angeles is mostly made of concrete, I assume that there are a plethora of living critters dwelling in the green and growing patches that do exist in the city. This is where my friend the spider met Babe, my car.

I never actually saw the spider but for months there was daily evidence that this eight-legged critter was dwelling in the cavity behind my passenger side mirror, as there was a web craftily spun all over the front of the mirror, sometimes even connecting to the window. When the web would get too big I would roll down the passenger window, and wipe it off with a tissue. I'll admit I was surprised the first time it reappeared. Soon however, it was a normal thing - the spider built its web while my car was parked, and I destroyed it with tissue or by flying down a highway. This was one resilient spider; it even kept up its antics when I moved to my new apartment in August to a parking space far from grass and trees. I figured that critter would be living in the space abaft of my mirror until I decided to wash my car and flush it out with a hose - which if you know me at all you know that I'm doing good if I wash my car even once a year.

Then, late in September I drove my car to Vegas. The web got messed up while on the highway, and I just figured I'd see a new one strung across the mirror the next morning. But, there never was a new web. I think the spider finally decided it couldn't handle the competition and died; or bailed out somewhere along the road to Vegas. Funny, I don't like spiders but I felt kind of sorry for the little bugger. We had such a nice routine going.