Photograph by George Grall
NationalGeographic.com

All through high school I was something of an adventurous reader and sometimes it became a problem. In one of my English classes, our assignment was to read some nonfiction; our choice.

I assumed we would have to write a book report when we were finished. How wrong I was; our midterm exam was based on the book we had just read. Instead of reading a biography or auto-biography as our teacher had expected or maybe intended, I read “The Life of a Spider”, I’ve forgotten the author, but I will never forget the book.

Imagine how I felt when I read the first question on the exam; “Describe the main character.” The first thought through my mind was which one; there were over thirty of them. So I figured what the hell, I’m dead anyhow, so I chose one, probably a Black Widow or some other one equally evil.

“The main character is black and shiny with eight legs, a red spot on her abdomen and she kills her partner after they mate.” Great stuff huh. It went on and on from there.

Much to my surprise I got an A+ for my effort. I guess you never know; maybe my teacher liked spiders.