The Black Widow Spider Mystery (6 page)

“We can go into the library now,” said Jessie. “We've earned a break anyway.”

The Aldens walked quickly to the library. Most of the spider books were on a high shelf. Henry climbed up on the stepstool and searched for a book that would be useful. Jessie looked around the room. She spotted something on the desk.

“Hey, you guys, take a look at this,” Jessie said.

Henry climbed down from the stool. The Aldens huddled together around the desk.

“What is it?” Henry asked, looking down at the paper Jessie had spotted. Someone had drawn a diagram on the paper, with several rectangles and lines.

“Looks like a map,” said Jessie.

“A map of what?” asked Violet.

“A treasure map?” Benny asked hopefully.

The Aldens stood silently looking at the map for several minutes. Suddenly, Violet said, “Wait a minute …” She took another look at the map, then ran to the window. The library was at the back of the house. From the window she could see a large, curved stone patio. Beyond the patio was a big yard ringed with tall grass and woods.

“That's it!” Violet cried.

She ran back to the map. “This is a map of the backyard. The large rectangle is the house.” She pointed to the bottom of the diagram. “See, this curve matches the curve of the patio. So this smaller rectangle is the shed. These lines represent the tall grass out there.”

“And what is that X?” asked Henry.

Violet slowly shook her head. “I have no idea. I don't see anything out the window.”

“It's obvious,” said Benny. “An X on a map
always
means treasure. Doesn't it?”

“I'm curious,” said Jessie.

“There's only one way to find out,” said Henry. “Let's go.”

“We can't just go poking around in the backyard!” said Violet. “What will we tell Mrs. Blackwell?”

“The truth,” said Henry. “That we'd like to take a look at her backyard. I'm sure she won't mind.”

The children considered this plan. “All right,” said Jessie. “I don't see any harm in it.”

Leaving the map on the desk in the library, the Aldens went back to the main hallway. “Mrs. Blackwell?” Jessie called up the stairs.

“Yes?” came a voice from above.

“We've finished unpacking the kitchen,” Jessie said.

“Very good,” said Mrs. Blackwell, appearing at the top of the stairs. “You do work quickly.”

“We were wondering if we could take a little break and get some fresh air in your backyard,” said Henry.

“That would be fine,” Mrs. Blackwell said.

The Aldens went out the back door into the spacious yard. “Wow,” said Benny. “This would be a great place to play baseball.”

“It would be,” Jessie agreed. “But that's not what we're here for. Now, what did that map say?”

“The X was just beyond the tall grass,” said Henry.

“That's the grass over there,” Violet said, pointing.

The Aldens walked across the yard to where the grass grew tall and wild. They looked around but could see nothing unusual. “Maybe it's on the other side of the grass,” Violet said, pushing her way through.

“I don't know what we're looking for, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary,” said Jessie, crawling into the grass.

“Maybe something is buried out here,” suggested Benny. “That's how they always do it in books.”

“But if something was buried here recently, we'd see an area that looked freshly dug up,” said Henry. “I don't see anything like that.”

“Neither do I,” said Jessie. “And if it was buried a long time ago, it could be anywhere.” She was disappointed. “Maybe we read the map wrong. Let's go back and look again.”

The Aldens walked across the wide yard and through the back door. They had just stepped inside when they heard Mrs. Blackwell's voice. “Stop right there! Don't move!”

CHAPTER 6

Beware the Spider's Bite

M
rs. Blackwell was rushing down the stairs, a look of horror on her face. She headed straight for Jessie.

“What is it?” asked Henry.

“On Jessie's back!” said Mrs. Blackwell.

Jessie froze and the other Aldens turned to look. In the middle of Jessie's back was the largest spider the children had ever seen.

Before the Aldens could react, Mrs. Blackwell plucked the spider off of Jessie. Cupping it delicately in her hands, she spoke in a gentle voice. “My poor girl!”

Jessie rubbed her back with her hand to brush off the feeling of the spider. She smiled and was about to speak when she realized Mrs. Blackwell hadn't been talking to her at all. She was talking to the spider!

Mrs. Blackwell looked down into her cupped hands. “Were you hitching a ride on Jessie's back?” she cooed in the same gentle tone. “Good thing I spotted you out the window!”

The Aldens clustered around to see the spider. It was three inches long, with thin legs and a black and yellow egg-shaped body. Mrs. Blackwell walked quickly out the back door and across the yard. She placed the spider in the high grass where the children had been.

When Mrs. Blackwell stepped back into the house, she seemed surprised to see all the children staring at her in amazement. “What's the matter?” she asked. “It was just a yellow garden spider. They can't hurt you.”

“B-b-but —” Jessie stuttered.

“It was huge!” said Benny.

“Why are people always so concerned with size?” muttered Mrs. Blackwell. “That has nothing to do with how dangerous a spider is. That poor spider was just looking for a place to make a web and accidentally ended up on Jessie's back.”

“Really?” said Violet.

“Yes. Yellow garden spiders like to build their nests in places like that tall grass,” Mrs. Blackwell said. “What were you doing back there anyway?”

The children looked at each other, unsure what to say. “We were just exploring,” Henry said at last.

“How do you know so much about spiders?” asked Benny.

“I've always been fascinated by spiders, ever since I was young,” Mrs. Blackwell said. She looked off into the distance, a soft smile on her face as she remembered. “I used to go out in the yard to look for them.”

“Neat!” said Violet, trying to picture Mrs. Blackwell as a young girl. “And so you still like spiders?”

“I do,” Mrs. Blackwell said.

Violet was about to ask something else when Benny interrupted her. “Does Mr. Blackwell like spiders, too? Is that why he keeps that spider in the room at the back of the house?”

Suddenly the smile disappeared from Mrs. Blackwell's face. “Please don't go back there again,” she said, then turned and walked toward the study.

“Mrs. Blackwell,” Henry called after her. “Would you mind if we stopped working now and came back tomorrow? We'd like to visit the public library this afternoon.”

“That's fine,” said Mrs. Blackwell, barely turning around.

Violet looked disappointed. “She was just starting to talk to us, to be friendly,” she whispered. “I wish you hadn't asked her about that spider, Benny.”

“I didn't know it would make her stop talking to us,” Benny said.

“I wonder why it did,” Jessie said.

The Aldens checked to make sure that everything had been put away neatly in the kitchen. Then they left the Blackwells' house and headed home for a quick lunch. While Jessie boiled some hot dogs, Henry got out buns, ketchup, and mustard. Benny took out four plates and napkins and Violet poured four large cups of milk.

“Let's eat our lunch in the boxcar,” suggested Benny.

“Great idea,” said Violet. She placed the cups of milk on a tray and led the way to the backyard. Watch scampered around the children's feet as they walked.

Soon they were sitting inside the boxcar, munching their hot dogs. Watch sat quietly in a corner, chewing a bone.

“So we never did find out what that map was for,” Henry said in between bites.

“All it led us to was a spider,” said Benny.

“Maybe that's what the map was for!” said Violet excitedly.

“I thought it was a treasure map,” said Benny. “Spiders aren't treasure.”

“But don't you see?” Violet said. “That's exactly what spiders
are
to Mrs. Blackwell.”

“I still think there's more she's not telling us,” said Jessie.

After they'd finished eating, the children set off for the library on their bikes. Henry led them straight to the section with books about spiders and insects. “Here's the book I took out last month,” he said, pulling the book from a shelf. The cover showed a large photograph of a brown spider.

Henry flipped it open. He turned each page slowly, studying the photographs. His brother and sisters peered over his shoulder.

“Hey look!” cried Benny, pointing to a picture in the book. “That looks like the spider that was on Jessie's back.”

Jessie shivered. Benny was right. The black and yellow spider in the photograph looked just like the one Mrs. Blackwell had taken off her back.

Violet leaned closer and studied the text under the photograph. “It says this spider goes by lots of different names. Yellow Garden Spider — that's what Mrs. Blackwell called it. I like this name: Golden Orb Weaver.”

“What does that say?” asked Benny, pointing to some italicized words written in smaller print.

“Argiope aurantia
,” Henry read, slowly sounding out the difficult words. “It says that's the spider's scientific name.”

Henry continued flipping the pages until he came to a full-page photograph of a very black spider. “Wait!” he said. “This might be it.” He read quietly to himself while the others waited. Then he said, “I found it!”

“What?” asked Jessie.

“Listen to this.” Henry began reading from the book. “‘One of the most well-known spiders is the black widow spider. This spider can be identified by its inky black coloring and the red hourglass marking on the female's underside.'”

“Red hourglass marking!” cried Violet. “Just like on the boxes!”

“Yes,” said Henry. “I knew that red symbol reminded me of something.”

“What does
widow
mean?” asked Benny.

“A widow is a woman whose husband has died,” Henry explained. “It says here the black widow spider has that name because the female is much larger and sometimes eats the male.”

“Really?” said Benny. “That's not very nice.”

“No,” Henry said. “It isn't. But it says the males sometimes escape after throwing strands of silk at the females. Look, here's a picture.” He held the book so the others could see.

“Hey!” said Benny. “That looks like the spider I saw in the glass case!”

“It does?” Violet asked.

“Yes,” said Benny. “I didn't see an hourglass, but the spider was really black, with long legs. And its web was all tangled like that one in the picture. Remember, I told you it was messy.”

“What else does the book say about black widows?” Jessie asked.

“Let's see,” said Henry. He began to read aloud again. “‘The black widow spider bites if it feels threatened. Its poison is extremely strong — fifteen times stronger than that of a rattlesnake.'” Henry paused and looked around at the others. “Wow.”

“The poison is fifteen times stronger than a rattlesnake's?” Jessie repeated.

Henry nodded.

“No wonder Mrs. Blackwell doesn't want us in that back room!” said Violet.

“Now I
really
wonder why someone would keep that spider as a pet!” said Benny.

Henry was just about to close up the book when Jessie spotted something. “Let me see that book for a minute,” she said.

Henry handed the book to her. Jessie pointed to the word she had spotted. She said it aloud slowly,
“Lactrodectus.
”

“What's that?” asked Violet.