The stage was set, A perfect web. The spider sat in the center (center stage!), waiting for the ‘audience’ to arrive for the show it had meticulously planned. Who all would attend, it mused. Would the butterflies come, or a fly? May be the first one to arrive would be a buzzing bee, or a dragonfly even. But it hadn’t calculated on what actually happened next.

“What are you doing here?” a stern voice asked. “You have encroached upon my space! Building between the two plants standing on my verandah! That too when you have enough space in the garden to build all the stages you need for your shows! This one has to go. Sorry! But wait, first let me take a picture. Say cheese or if you prefer you could just say ‘bees’?! No? Alright, no need to be so stuffy about it. Have it your way!”

When the long speech was done, a broom came swishing down, destroying the perfect web the spider had made, much like bulldozers brought by the city officials bringing down unauthorized tenements. The alarmed spider quickly scampered away to safety. Tomorrow it would find a better and safer space, somewhere away from the reach of crazy woman brandishing a broom and build an even better web. The audacity of her to take a picture before destroying the beautiful web! The spider could have cried remembering the effort it had taken perfecting it, but it didn’t, it had work to do and no time to waste on tears.

© Shail Mohan 2021