Sonya and the Spider

Sonya Moffet was lying on her bed reading when she suddenly felt an intense hunger pain. "When's dinner, Mommy?" she shouted to her mother in the other room.

"Not for a while." her mother yelled back. "It's only 3 o'clock way too early to eat dinner."

Sonya moaned as her stomach begin to rumble as though it were urging her to give it food right away. "Can I have a snack?" she called out.

"Yes, you can," her mother replied "but please stop yelling." she added.

Sonya decided to get herself a snack and then take it down into the basement playroom to eat it in while she watched TV. She went downstairs and went into the refrigerator and took out a cup of blueberry yogurt. Then, she grabbed a spoon and a napkin and headed down the basement stairs.

Her brother, Johnny was coming up the stairs as she went down. "Where are you going?" he inquired.

"To the basement." Sonya answered rolling her eyes in disbelief that he would ask such a stupid question.

"Are you going to eat down there?" asked Johnny.

This time Sonya just gave him a look. "No, I am going to try to dig my way to china with a spoon." she said sarcastically waving her spoon in front of his face.

"Oh." replied Johnny with a sinister smile. "I was wondering because you know there are spiders down there."

"Spiders!" exclaimed Sonya in horror. She hated spiders.. She was absolutely petrified of them. It was obvious that Johnny knew that too from the huge grin that had spread all over his face as he told her. "Are you kidding me?" she asked giving him an angry shove.

"No." he replied stepping back and grabbing onto the railing in order to avoid falling down the stairs. "There really are spiders down there." Johnny  insisted before continuing up the stairs. Sonya stood there for  a few minutes indecisively, and then went upstairs too.

When she got upstairs, Mom was talking on the phone. "Sonya, honey." she said "Could you go down in the basement and get me one of those little pads of paper we keep in the closet down there? The one we keep up here is empty." she pointed to the empty notepad holder magneted to the refrigerator.

"No!" exclaimed Sonya rushing out of the room.

Her mother just stared after her.  She couldn't understand what brought that on. Usually,  Sonya loved hanging out in the basement. She loved watch TV, and  reading and snacking  there. She claimed it was peaceful at least when Johnny wasn't around.

For the next few days, Sonya studiously avoided the basement. Finally. her mother cornered her. "What's going on?" she inquired.

"Nothing." Sonya shrugged, but her mother was not going to let it go that easily. She gave Sonya an intense patented mom stare that was like a truth serum.

"Spiders." Sonya admitted finally. "I'm afraid of the spiders."

"What spiders?"

"The ones in the basement." she replied closing her eyes and giving  an involuntary shudder at just the thought of those creepy crawling pests allegedly. "Johnny said they are all over." He hadn't actually said all over, but just knowing that any were there was enough for Sonya.

"Oh, honey." her mother intoned. "There might be spider or two, but I doubt the basement is full of them. Johnny is just trying to scare you."

Sonya knew Johnny would do something like that, but she wasn't sure what to believe. She grimaced partly because she couldn't stop thinking about the spiders and partly at the thought her brother could possibly be so mean.

"Besides," her mother added. "I'm sure the spiders are just as much afraid of you as you are of them if not more."

The very next day, Sonya decided to be brave and take her mother's words to heart. She grabbed her snack and went down to sit in the basement and eat her snack. She hurried down before she could change her mind.

As soon as she got into the basement, she sat down on a low footstool. No sooner had she started eating when a long legged spider crawled up beside her. She was about to get up and run away, but then she remembered what her mother said. "Boo!" she shouted in her bravest loudest voice. The spider quickly went scurrying away. "Now, who's frightened!" Sonya shouted out with pride.