Authors: Steve Elliott
Chapter 2.
- Cry havoc and unleash the
cats
of war!
- I
beg
your pardon?
- Sorry, I was getting a bit carried away with the challenge of the dares.
- Unleash the
cats
of war? I believe you mean the
hounds
of war, perhaps?
- Are you
kidding
me? Have you ever tried to get a
cat
to do something when it’s in a bad mood? Man, a hound wouldn’t stand a
chance
against that hissing, enraged ball of claws and teeth. Cats are
terrifying
when they’re mad.
-
You’re
terrifying.
- Thanks.
- It
wasn’t
a compliment.
-
Oh
.
We met at Jan’s place the next week as scheduled. We’d also kept contact with each other during the week just in case anyone had been brave enough to complete their dare, but nobody had so far.
“How are
you
doing, Kim?” Stephanie asked, slyly.
“I’m doing
fine
, Stef,” I replied, frostily. “You can ask Paul if you want to check up on me.”
“Oh, there’s no need for that,” she assured me. “Your
word
is good enough. What about
you
Maureen?”
“Down
two
kilos,” Maureen announced proudly. We all congratulated her, commenting on how good she looked.
“Thanks,” she said, blushing a little. “It hasn’t been
easy
, but it’s just a matter of eating less and reducing the carbohydrates. I sure miss
chocolate
though,” she sighed.
“It’s awfully addictive,” Janice agreed.
“And
sooooo
nice,” Stephanie added, wistfully.
“Just
melts
in your mouth,” I contributed.
“All right you lot,” Maureen interjected loudly. “
Enough
! Stop talking about
chocolate
! Are you
trying
to drive me crazy? Talk about something
else
for a change.”
“Sorry, Maureen,” Stephanie apologised. “Okay, then, when I win, I’ll make Kim do a
striptease
dance for us, complete with music.”
“What?” I exclaimed. “The
hell
you will!”
Stephanie waved a finger in front of my nose. “Temper,
temper
, my dear! Remember your
dare
.”
I controlled myself with difficulty, realising that I’d nearly fallen in Stephanie’s trap. I was dismayed at how
easy
it had been for her to manipulate me. “Damn you, Stef!” I grumped. “That wasn’t
fair
! You
cheated
.”
“No, I
didn’t
, sweetheart,” she denied. “The rules state that there
are
no rules.”
“You just made that
up
!” I accused.
“Of
course
I did,” she blithely replied. “It’s
my
game. I can make
any
rules I like.”
“I can see this game of yours is open to a certain level of
abuse
,” I stated, with a grimace. “Can I
withdraw
my nomination?”
My statement was greeted with howls of denial from all quarters. “Certainly
not
!” Stephanie emphatically pontificated. “You’re in it for the long haul, girlfriend. Don’t be such a
wuss
. The rest of us want to keep going. Maureen is
already
one quarter finished.”
“If you’re so
clever
, Stef,” I said, maliciously, “then how’s your little
arachnid
problem coming along?”
She flushed. “I’m
getting
there,” she snapped, testily. “I can look at
pictures
of them now without coming over all funny. That’s a big step for me. I
had
hoped you lot would give me a bit more encouragement.”
We immediately crowded around her, offering support and saying how
brave
she was. And she
was
brave. We all knew that her spider phobia terrified her to the point of hysteria. Merely
thinking
about them brought her out in a cold sweat and actually
seeing
one, even a tiny, harmless house spider, caused her to tremble and sometime faint dead away.
We adjourned for biscuits and coffee. Janice admitted she hadn’t gotten very far with
her
dare, i.e. to jump out of an aeroplane. Her fear of heights was of the same degree as Stephanie and spiders.
“You can
do
it, Jan,” Maureen encouraged. “Just do a
little
bit at a time. You know, chair, ladder, elevator, cliff and then aeroplane. Desensitise yourself. We’re
all
behind you. Call on us anytime to hold your hand. We’ll be happy to come along, won’t we, girls?” She looked around at us and we all chorused our agreement.
“Thanks, you guys,” Janice said gratefully. “I
will
need help for this. In fact, I’ll do the chair thing right
now
!”
We cheered her as she stood up, moved her chair into the middle of the room, took a deep breath and, with Maureen and Stephanie on either side of her, climbed onto the chair and stood there, trembling, with her eyes shut tightly.
“Open your eyes, sweetie,” Stephanie encouraged. “Nice and slowly.
We’ve
got you. You won’t fall.”
Janice obeyed and gasped, convulsively gripping Stephanie’s and Maureen’s hands.
“We
have
you, honey,” Stephanie soothed. “See, everything’s
fine
. Nothing’s going to happen. You’re totally
safe
.”
Janice looked around the room in wonder. “I
did
it!” she breathed. “I
really
did it! I never thought I
could
.” She flushed a little. “This must seem so
stupid
to you all,” she admitted. “A
grown
woman, who can’t even stand on a
chair
without getting into a panic. I feel so
silly
!”
“You’re
not
silly,” Stephanie barked. “Phobias aren’t fun things to have. Other people might find them amusing, but they’re
horrible
. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, sweetie. But you
did
it! Congratulations!”
We helped Janice down from the chair and drank some
more
wine to celebrate her victory.
Chapter 3.
We convened at Maureen’s house the next week to check on developments. “Down
another
kilo and a half,” Maureen told us when asked.
“Nicely done,” congratulated Stephanie. “It’s really starting to
show
, too.”
“I know,” Maureen admitted. “My clothes are a lot
looser
than they used to be. I’ll be down a whole
dress
size soon. New wardrobe, here I come.
Yahoo
!”
We all smiled at her enthusiasm. “What about
you
, Jan?” asked Stephanie.
“I went on an
elevator
yesterday,” she said with pride. “All the way to the
third
level.
And
I looked down over the balcony. I felt a bit
woozy
after that, mind you, but I didn’t throw up. I really think I’m going to
do
this.”
We clapped and slapped her on the back. “How are
you
doing, Stef?” I enquired.
“Not so
good
as yet,” she replied, with a hint of despair. “I can look at the
pictures
now okay, but I can’t bear to see them in the
flesh
, as it were. They still freak me out. Just the mere
thought
of them…….
Brrr
! I can’t help it. They’re so……so…
spidery
!”
“How about we all go to see if we can find one right
now
?” Janice suggested. “Just a
tiny
one. Totally
harmless
. We’ll all be with you, Stef. You helped me the other week. How about if I help
you
now?”
“I suppose,” Stephanie said dubiously. “A real
tiny
one?”
“Almost
miniscule
,” affirmed Janice. “So small you can barely
see
it.”
“I’ll
try
,” Stephanie said, “but I apologise in advance if I go berserk.”
“Duly noted,” I chimed in. “Okay gang, lets go spider
hunting
!”
We left Stephanie in the dining room while the rest of us searched around. Isn’t it amazing how you can never
find
what you want, but when you
don’t
want anything, it turns up every time you turn around? It took half an
hour
for one of us to find a spider – and it was so minute that you could hardly see it. It must have been a baby or some sort of
pygmy
species. We gently put it into a closed plastic jar and took it back to Stephanie.
“Lo, the mighty hunters return,” I quipped. “It put up one heck of a fight, but we managed to subdue it in the end. As it was, Janice had to be taken to
hospital
for severe bites.”
“Don’t make
fun
of me, Kim,” Stephanie scolded. “This isn’t at
all
funny.”
“I’m sorry Stef,” I said, contritely. “I didn’t
mean
to upset you. I know how difficult this is.”
“We’ll put it over
here
,” Maureen volunteered, indicating the far corner of the room. “You can come over gradually, a bit at a time. We’ll come
with
you, sweetie.”
We grouped behind Stephanie as she steeled herself. “I can’t even
see
it, but I
know
it’s there,” she said, her voice shaking. “This is
crazy
! What’s
wrong
with me?”
“
Nothing’s
wrong with you, honey,” I reassured her, gripping her by the arm. “It’s your
mind
, telling you things that aren’t true. You can
beat
this, Stef. I
know
you can. We’re here for you.”
Janice took possession of Stephanie’s hand and squeezed. Stephanie shook herself, breathed deeply and took a few paces forward, then stopped, visibly trembling.
“Good
girl
,” Maureen murmured. “You’re doing
fine
. Keep
going
, honey.”
Stephanie walked some more steps towards the closed container and stopped again, droplets of perspiration beginning to appear on her forehead.
“I’m not sure I can
do
this, you guys,” she confessed. “I’m close to
screaming
point right now.”
“Think of something
else
,” I told her. “It’s your
mind
that’s making you this way. Put
another
picture in there. Maybe a country scene……. Or
washday
, perhaps…… Loads of laundry….. Dirty clothes everywhere…..And it’s
raining
outside…..But the dryer’s broken……What are you going to
do
?”
“The
dryer’s
broken?” Stephanie said with some heat, as I pushed her forward. “Bloody
typical
! The moment you
want
something, it breaks
down
! I
hate
washday! Why do we even
wear
clothes if all they do is get
dirty
again? It’s enough to make you join a nudist colony. Where are the
paper
clothes that you can just
throw
away at the end of the day? We have paper
plates
after all. Why not
clothes
?”
By the time she’d finished her ranting, we’d manoeuvred her next to the container.
Once she’s realized where she was, she gulped nervously but stood her ground.
“Okay, I’m
here
,” she muttered to herself. “I’m here and I’m in control…..
sort
of. Nothing can
harm
me. It’s just a tiny, little spider and it’s all locked up in a
box
. It can’t get out. I’m going to have a quick
look
now. Just a
glance
, that’s all. Then I’ll look away. Just a
quick
glance. Here I go.”
Hanging desperately onto Janice and myself, she leaned forward and peered into the transparent container.
“Where the hell
is
it?” she demanded. “I can’t see
anything
!”
“It’s in the
corner
, Stef,” I said, pointing it out.
“
That
speck of
nothing
?” she exclaimed in disbelief. “
That’s
what got me so upset? I don’t believe it! Are you sure that’s a
spider
? It looks more like an
ant
!”
“It’s a spider, sure enough,” I confirmed. “A real, honest-to-
goodness
spider.”
“And
that’s
what terrifies me?” Stephanie snorted. “I must be out of my
mind
. A good
sneeze
would blow it into the next country. Open the
box
, Kim. I want to have a closer look.”
“Are you sure about that?” I queried.
“I’m
sure
,” she said, quietly.
I let go of her arm, carefully opened the container and placed it back on the table, and gripped Stephanie’s arm once again. Bending closer, she stared at the spider intently.
“You’re doing
great
, honey,” Maureen encouraged.
“Yes, I
am
, aren’t I,” Stephanie applauded herself. “There’s nothing to be afraid of here. It’s so tiny and harmless. Nothing can possibly go wrong.”
Suddenly, the diminutive spider scurried to another corner. Stephanie jerked backwards with a gasp of shock, tore herself out of our supporting hands and stumbled backwards. “It
moved
!” she shrieked, terrified.
Immediately, we all surrounded her and enfolded her into a group hug.
“It’s
okay
, sweetie,” I comforted. “You did
fine
for a first time.”
“Yeah,” confirmed Maureen. “You were
great
.”
“Look how
close
you were,” Janice congratulated. “That’s a
big
step for you.”
Gradually, Stephanie gained control of her twitching muscles. “
Sorry
about that performance, guys,” she murmured. “It caught me by surprise, that’s all. It’s just the way they
run
. It’s so quick and scurrying, like. Is it still there? I want to have another go.”
I peered over into the container. “Yep,” I told her. “
Still
there.”
She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’m going in,” she remarked, with a weak grin. “
Cover
me, girls.”
We all grouped around her as she moved back to the spider. I could feel her shaking as she neared the container. Cautiously, she peered at the microscopic life form as it restlessly moved around its confines. Stephanie’s muscles tightened under my hands, but she didn’t run away this time.
“Damn! You
go
, girl!” breathed Janice in admiration, as Stephanie poked a trembling finger at the spider, which became suddenly immobile. She didn’t quite make it
all
the way, but her fingertip got to within a few centimetres of the spider before being snatched away.
“I
did
it!” Stephanie whispered. “I nearly
touched
a spider! I never
dreamed
I’d be able to do it! And it’s all thanks to
you
!” She threw her arms around us all, as far as they would reach, and jumped up and down in a frenzy of joy. We all laughed with her and patted her on the back in congratulations. Afterwards, I took the spider back to where we’d first found it and released it back into the wild.