Conquering Your Fears

Woman: Torino
Spider: Sankyaku

Karen loved the her new home. Well it wasn't really a new home, of course. She and Vince were newlyweds and a brand-new home was too pricey. But this pre-owned one was great! Best of all, of course, they could afford it.

If there was one thing she hated about the house, though, it was the spiders. They were everywhere! Living near the edge of town didn't help at all. The critters loved the desert and, when it got too hot, would hunt for shade. And that meant their somewhat leaky and rundown garage. There were cracks big enough to throw cats through (almost literally) so every critter wanting shade for kilometres around found its way into the place.

She disliked the little ones (even though someone told her they caught mosquitos) but is was the large hairy ones that drove her near crazy. The tarantulas seemed to enjoy lying in wait for her to come out to the garage to get something before scuttling out and startling her. And they scared her, too. Scared her so bad that sometimes it took hours for her heart to stop racing.

Today, though, she was going to do something about it. There had been a sale at the local building company. She'd bough paint, plywood and metal flashing to seal the garage up tight. Then she'd make sure that they were gone another way too. She'd bought a pesticide bomb big enough to clear a small office building. That would get anything left behind for sure!

She set about early in the morning. She knew how hot it would get by midday and she wanted to be safe in the house before it got too hot. Starting with the obvious, she pulled the rotten boards from the sides and reinforced the frame with studs. By ten in the morning, with the heat of the day beginning in earnest, Karen had the frame strengthened. She left the garage to the denizens of the desert for another day. Their days were definitely numbered.

That evening, when Vince returned home he was impressed by her accomplishment. He seemed surprised that a mere woman could excel in hard work like construction. Karen took the compliment as he intended and didn't bridle (except maybe inwardly) at his unintended male chauvinist remarks. He realized that he could have phrased his compliments better and then made an even greater faux pas. He offered to help her finish it up.  She politely and firmly turned him down but there was a coolness in her manner towards him for several minutes afterward. poor sap couldn't even figure out what he'd said wrong and decided it was best to forget about it and let it blow over.

The next morning, bright and early, Karen again arrived at the workplace. Carefully pulling up the rotting boards of the floor, she evicted the previous tenants and proceeded to lay a concrete floor using a rented cement mixer. It took a few tries before she got the hang of smoothing the cement but, long before the heat of the day hit in earnest, she had a nice smooth floor. No critters would get under through this very easily, she gloated. Later, once the heat of the day was fading, she returned to the garage. A few critters had tried the concrete and left fossils of their movements but she could find evidence of considerably fewer creatures than usually made use of the garage. Deciding to ensure the garage was secure before the evening, she nailed the metal flashing around the edge of the garage. That would keep things out! The garage should be just about hers soon. No more scary critters.

The next day started with a minor sprinkling of rain (a regular downpour for the region they lived in). She discovered that the roof leaked. Deciding that where water could get in, critters could get in, too. Karen got on the phone and ordered shingles to seal the roof, too. The ever helpful fellow at the hardware store recommended she get a few extra sheets of plywood to nail over the roof to make sure the result was weather-proof. While she waited for the shingles to arrive, she cut and nailed up the new plywood sides of the garage. By the time Vince arrived home, he found her helping the hardware store owner unload the shingles and extra plywood from his pickup truck.

Once again he complimented her and this time managed to do it without ruffling any feathers. Karen was quite proud of the garage. It would soon be more bug-proof than the main house. She really should do something about that, too, when they could afford it. The next morning, she set up the ladder and climbed into the rafters of the garage. Once more the weather had, over the years, damaged things. It took her the rest of the day to nail extra studs into place. She could see where the water had gotten in over the years and realized that the entire roof would need a new plywood layer. While she was up nailing extra studs up and removing badly rotted sections, she discovered a strange leather pouch nailed to one of the beams in the roof. Being busy with her carpentry, she stuffed it into her carpenter's apron and continued uninterrupted.

The next and final day dawned clear and promising extreme heat. Karen quickly climbed the roof and, with a neighbourhood teen providing some extra muscle, muscled the plywood sheeting into place. The pair of them, with rented staple guns, soon had the roof ship-shape and bug-proof. They then started the tedious task of stapling the shingles down. They'd only completed half of it by that evening but Karen was sure they could finish the next day.

That evening, as the sun set, she remembered the pouch. She fought with the knot a while until it yielded. Inside, she found the strangest coin. Not like any other coin she'd ever seen, if reminded her more of an art piece than money. Taking it with her into the house, she turned on the computer and began to search the internet for something similar. The closest she could find though, even with Vince helping, were ancient Celtic coins. They decided they would take a run into the city on the weekend and see what the folks at the museum made of the coin.

Just then, a large tarantula scuttled from underneath the hutch. Karen screamed and Vince quickly caught the creature and evicted it back into the desert. He hated killing any creature without reason.

"I wish I could change so I wasn't as scared of those hairy brutes," Karen sobbed.

The coin began to glow and then disappeared from her hand. This had the effect of startling her out of her terror. But before she could make any further comment, she felt and saw a strange greenish glow surround her. She felt dizzy and collapsed to the floor. Pushing herself upright, she felt something push out her trousers at the back. The pressure became intense and then, with a ripping sound, the trousers gave way. Karen tried to get up but couldn't move. Vince merely stared, a shocked look on his face, at Karen's backside.

"What's -- happening --- now?" she panted.
"I don't know, you've uh got something ..." his voice trailed out.
"What?!" shrieked Karen.
"A -- uh -- like a bump, y'know?" Vince added lamely.

Karen was about to demand more information when she happened to look down. Strange fur covered her to the waist and bumps were appearing where her hips had been. A spasm shook her before she could demand more from Vince. When the spasm passed, the bumps had developed legs -- eight legs. Spasm after spasm struck until she was left with eight complete (and very hairy) spider legs. The transformation left Karen exhausted so she didn't see the spread of the spider fur to cover her back and hips. She collapsed face down on the floor.

"Are you okay?" asked Vince lifting her head.

He then stared in horror at his wife's face. Karen tried to ask what was wrong but found she could no longer speak. Still tired, she tried to push herself to her feet.

"Uh honey," Vince began lamely. "You've changed..."