Fear of Spiders

Last week, my 12-year old son, Ben, approached me. Ben claimed he had a spider trapped in a paper towel, but Ben was afraid to squish the spider. He feard the spider would jump out somehow. Spiders, you see, creep Ben out.

Ben inherits this fear of spiders, I believe, from his mother. Regardless, as a loving and caring father, I decided to rescue my son and take care of the spider for him.

With Ben in tow, I walked to the paper towel in question, picked it up, and began to massage it, as if I were seeking out the hidden prize inside before crushing it. In actuality, though, I was pulling off a small piece of paper towel.

I then flicked the small piece of paper towel with my thumb. The piece flew though the air a very short distance and landed on the counter-top in front of Ben. I then started screaming at the top of my lungs.

Ben, surprised at seeing this quivering, shaking piece of paper in front of him and hearing my heart-wrenching screaming, screamed himself. I continued to scream and looked at Ben as if to say, "Aaaah! I can't believe it got out!"

Ben, seeing my reaction, screamed even louder. I screamed. He screamed. I turned to Ben and screamed. He turned to me and screamed back.

Screaming is so contagious.

Anyway, I started laughing. Ben, seeing me laugh and realizing he was screaming at a piece of paper, began laughing, screaming, and crying all at the same time.

Eventually, we both ended up laughing.