Chapter 40
40
THEN
“YOU’RE SCARED OF SPIDERS?” MANUEL asks. It’s our first summer together on Cradle Island. “That’s stupid. Spiders are completely harmless.”
“That’s not the point,” I say.
“Yes, it is.” He palms a tree spider crawling up the wall and drops it into his mouth.
I squeal. “Did you just eat that ?”
He doesn’t flinch, just spreads his lips in a cheeky grin. When he does, the spider crawls out the corner of his mouth and down his chin.
“Ewwww!” I whack his arm. “That’s gross! That’s disgusting! I can’t believe you just did that! You’re such a weirdo!”
At the time, I don’t understand why this boy put a spider in his mouth. I don’t yet know that, sometimes, people do things that don’t make sense. Sometimes it’s for the wrong reasons, and sometimes it’s for the right reasons. Sometimes it’s just to make the other person feel safe. To show them they have nothing to fear or, if that’s not possible, to cling to them while you both cry together.