Morning phone call...

Big D is my granddaughter and Little D my grandson.

Little D:  I like Gwamma,  n', n', n'Bobbie, n', n', (Big D), n',n' Mommie n', n',.....

(Long  pause )

Big D (in her harse voice early in the morning):  Do you jus' like girls (Little D)?

Little D:  n', n',....but I don' like you Pa!

The itty bitty spider....

Alittle spider lives in the corner of my kitchen between the baseboard heater and a 2"x2" side unit that has my TV on top.  Every once in a while I reach down to pick up what looks to me like some lint or a grain of some food, but it turns out to be the spider.  And if I try to catch one of the legs with my fingers,  the spider nimbly escapes into the darkness between the heater and the side unit.  I first started noticing the spider about a month ago.  It seemed to me that it was larger then, or more substantial.  It's body had a little shape to it - now it is just a simple tiny dot.  And its legs are so thin and spindly now that they can hardly be seen.  I wonder  if the thing is getting enough to eat - or if it's getting anything at all.  If I could catch it I wouldn't hurt it.  I'd just put it outside.  But it will probably expire, alone, in the dark corner.  It's funny: when I saw how frail it had become I felt sorry for it.  It seems ridiculous, but I guess every creature, human or otherwise, has a need to feel something for another being.  I remember how my granddaughter S. used to do the 'itsy bitsy spider routine....'