Dear Robynn,
One day, not very different from any other, the rat named Jelly woke up and thought she heard something from outside of her cage.
She peered out of the door, cautious at first. She wanted to see what it was that she had heard.
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There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. She was just about to go back inside when she thought she heard the sound again. She cautiously stepped out and tried to listen but it was all quiet again.
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Jelly thought that she should go and investigate to make sure. She held her head up high and sniffed the air carefully. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she knew she had heard something. It had been the quietest tapping sound so that only her sharp ears could pick it up.
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She went back into the cage and woke up Cricket. “Come out with me, I heard something and I am too scared to be alone.”
So Cricket and Jelly ventured out together, both sniffing the air and
looking around. Cricket was braver than Jelly and took the lead as they searched.
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All was still and quiet in the house.
But then all of a sudden Jelly saw it.
And her eyes widened.
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It was a plump, long legged, slightly hairy Spider! Jelly squeaked and jumped, and ran back into her cage. But Cricket was not scared right away. She approached the spider cautiously. Very cautiously because not all spiders were friendly.
“Are you a nice spider, or a mean spider?” Cricket said. And the spider uncurled it’s long legs and said, “I am just trying to find a home. I do not like it in here, I want to be outside where I can build my web. But I do not know how to get outside.”
“You can hop onto my back and I will take you outside.” Cricket said. Cricket called Jelly back out of the cage.
With Jelly’s help, Cricket took the spider outside and into the back yard. There was a lovely wine barrel planter in the back yard that the Rice family had given to the Banta-Smith residence and Jelly and Cricket showed the spider the planter. The spider was very please and she built her web there.
The spider’s name is Charlotte, and she built a beautiful web above my strawberry garden.
Rat Corner 