Day 10: Something You're Afraid Of

 Spiders- Specifically the Black Widow

And my fear originated in Deltaville in the 80's.

Once upon a time, we had an old metal shed in the yard that held the shovels, rakes and other yard tool stuff.  Also in this shed were black widows.

Truth be told, my grandmother was always worried about spiders (and snakes) and often told my cousin and I not to go in the crawl space and to stay out of the shed 

(I've tried to use this as an excuse to continue not having to go under the house or in the shed).

One of my older male cousins thought it was fun to catch black widows in jars 

where he would let them spin a web.  

 Once the web was spun, he liked to take the lid off the jar, 

hold it upside down over my head and tell me if the spider fell in my hair 

I would have only 3 seconds to live if it bit me.

I'd never make it to the house to dial 9-1-1.

I have been terrified of black spiders ever since.

Of course, while the venom of a black widow is 15 times stronger than a rattlesnake.

It causes muscle aches, nausea and difficulty breathing

but seldom long term injury or death 

(unless like the flu you're elderly, very young or have a compromised immune system).

Doesn't matter.

All I think about is having that spider biting me and only being able to have enough time to dial 9-1 before succumbing.