As The Spider Wove Her Web The Girl Wept

 As she sat on her flea market sofa she stared at the house spider weaving a beautiful web in the corner of her living room. "My living room. Ha! Soon not to be that's for sure." She was about as down as a person could be. She thought if she ever heard the words Covid or boyfriend she would scream. The Covid virus had caused the cafe she had worked at to close. The boyfriend she considered her Prince Charming had eaten her last piece of pizza in the fridge and bid her farewell. He didn't even say 'nice knowing you.' Yes, little did she know that when she toasted her ginger ale to the new year that it too would be a bummer; in fact just as bad or worse than 2020.

She wearily got up off the sofa, saluted the spider and said, "Go for it girl. You soon shall have the whole apartment to yourself. The eviction notice says I have to be out in a few days. I might as well leave sooner than later. There is nothing or no one to keep me here."

She walked over to her tiny kitchen table and went through her mail once again. "I have to be out by the 15th of the month. Whoopee, I have three whole days to live in this dump. How did I ever end up like the loser of the year?"

As she walked through her tiny apartment she realized that in just a day or two her whole life would be packed in a suitcase and a couple of boxes. "I had dreams, Miss Spider. Yes I did. I figured if I worked hard and saved my money someday I would have my own business. Everyone always told me I had an eye for decorating. I thought that was where my future was. But, no; not me. I had to meet a loser guy that told me how beautiful I was and ate me out of house and home; literally." As she was throwing out her junk mail she noticed an envelope that she hadn't seen before. It was from a lawyer's office. "Alright already. I'm packing I'll get out. I don't know where I'll go, or how I will go, but I'm going. As she was about to pitch it in the wastepaper basket she figured she might as well open it. Her whole world started to spin. She was an heiress. She started to laugh and dance around her old sofa. "The laugh is on you, Miss Spider. Weave your dreams in this dump. Mine have changed. I'm going to Texas!" 

Within seconds she stopped dancing and laughing. She had no way to get there and little to no money. She looked at her cell phone. It had about fifty percent charge left. She soon would lose that too. Her cell phone bill was due soon. She had to save what little money she had for some food. She picked up the letter from the lawyer. Yes! There was a phone number on the letter. Maybe they would or could give her some hope of escaping this nightmare. Perhaps they could help her get to Texas and her new dude ranch. "Wait, what is a dude ranch? I think they have horses. I'm a city girl. What in the world am I thinking? I can't go to Texas. I have no money, no wheels, no idea who the uncle is even. I didn't even know I had an uncle. This is probably a scam artist playing tricks on me." She plopped back down on the lumpy sofa and stared at the busy little spider. "You don't even care, do you, Miss Spider? You have a home and soon you will trap something to eat by catching a fly in your sticky web. What am I going to do?"

She was so tired. Tired of beating the streets for a job, tired of being lonely; just tired. Soon she fell asleep curled up sleeping a dreamless sleep with tiny tears drying on her cheeks. It seemed like only minutes later she awoke to the sound of her flip phone ringing. It was the lawyer's office. They had been trying to get ahold of her. Could she meet with them tomorrow? She was the sole survivor of her Uncle Bill's estate. His will needed to be read to her, his only beneficiary, and signed as soon as possible.  She almost choked when they told her they would have a car pick her up if that was convenient. Was it convenient? Of course, it was convenient! But then the tiny voice of common sense whispered in her ear. "You don't know these people. Tell them sending a car is not necessary." Oh how she wanted to knock that common sense angel off her shoulder. Ride in an expensive car? Like rich people? But she took a deep breath and told the secretary that she would not be needing a car. She would meet them the next day at two o'clock in their office.

She looked at the spider that had decided that  her web was big enough. It was quiet. It seemed like it was watching and waiting to see what the girl was going to do. The spider soon found out. It watched as the girl opened her purse and counted her money. She was going to celebrate by spending a little of it by going to McDonalds for a hamburger and fries. After that she was going to the library. Hopefully they would have a computer available for her to use. She needed to know exactly what a dude ranch was. If what she was hoping and praying to find out was on the up and up  she was going to own a dude ranch! Oh how she wished she had enough money for a pair of cowgirl boots.