Suspended between two blades of grass, the spider watches the sun rise, set, and give way to the moon, as the world turns and the years pass. Moving with the spin of the earth, no web to speak of, always hovering in that same spot upon a nameless meadow. Timeless. Infinite.
No one notices the spider until a young girl does. Assuming his web to be too fine to see, she holds out a finger for him to climb onto. The slightest brush of his hairs unfreezes him from that strange schism in reality. The girl holds him up for inspection. A tiny body, smaller than her fingernail.
She puts him down on a blade of grass and runs off to rejoin her family. The spider turns around and watches the sun set from a different side of the meadow.
Paddy Dobson
30th September 2021