Free Spiders on the Case by Kathryn Lasky Page A

the air so they could haul themselves out of the display and escape the great sucking mechanical beast that had invaded their peaceful domain.
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    â€œWell, that’s done,” the cleaning woman said. “What a mess! Bet no one dusted that in years! These librarians and their books. So dirty!”
    Edith was trembling. She still didn’t know if her children had escaped or had been vacuumed up. “Children!” Edith called.
    â€œJo Bell?”
    â€œHere!”
    â€œFelix?”
    â€œHere, Mom.”
    â€œJulep?” She waited. “Julep?” Panic was rising. “Julep, darling, Julep!”
    â€œOh, for the love of Pete!” they heard the cleaning lady exclaim. “Yikes, it’s a spider!”
    Edith’s tiny heart beat wildly, but her body was frozen with fear. Her youngest child could be killed or could be scared into biting the cleaning lady. That, too, would spell certain doom for them all.
    Four seconds later, there was the softest little noise on the surface of the display case. A noise so tiny that only a spider could have felt the vibrations.
    â€œIt’s Julep,” Jo Bell said. “Julep!”
    â€œIs she alive?” Edith croaked, hiding her eyes behind one of her eight legs.
    â€œOf course I’m alive. She just flicked me off her.”
    â€œOh! Thank heavens.” And with that, Edith collapsed.
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    â€œWhat happened? What happened?” Buster had been sleeping across the room somewhere in a boxed set of nineteenth-century locomotive drawings. “I heard a noise. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner.”
    â€œIt was!” Jo Bell said somberly.
    Buster looked around the case and staggered a bit. It felt as if his eight eyes were spinning. “But every thing’s gone. The webs, the message. It’s all gone!”
    Indeed the shimmering hieroglyphs were gone. The display case had not a speck of dust, and the glass was polished on both sides and gleaming. Even the precious book of the Liang dynasty sparkled with a new cleanliness.
    â€œI hate hygiene!” Edith said in a low rumbling voice that the children had never before heard.
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    But the spiders’ devastation was nothing compared to that of Tom Parker. Five minutes after the cleaning lady went on her merry hygienic way, Tom arrived. He didn’t bother to take off his jacket but walked directly over to the case. He looked down through the glass and blinked. Then, emitting a small gasp, he pulled out his reading glasses and bent down for a closer look. “It’s gone.” He blinked several times. He looked up and, with a confused gaze, stared into the perpetual twilight of the rare books room. “Did I dream it?”
    â€œNo! No! No!” the spiders all cried out together. But Tom could not hear their melancholy vibrations.
    He turned to Rosemary, who had just arrived. “Rosemary, isn’t Monday the cleaning day for rare books?”
    â€œYes, but Joe has been out, and I think someone else came up this morning instead.”
    â€œIndeed they did. The display case was opened.”
    â€œWas something stolen?” Rosemary asked, jumping up from her desk.
    â€œNo, dusted.”
    â€œOh, dear. I know you don’t like that case dusted. I should have put a note on it. But I’ll be sure to call Custodial Services and tell them not to dust the case again if Joe is going to be out longer.”
    â€œIt’s too late,” Tom whispered to himself. “Too late.”

I t’s never too late, Tom! It’s never too late!” Jo Bell had swung up to the top of the display case and was shouting at him through the glass.
    â€œHe can’t hear you, Jo Bell. He doesn’t speak spider,” Julep called up at her.
    â€œIt’s useless, Jo Bell,” Felix said.
    â€œWe’re beaten,” Edith nearly sobbed.
    â€œMom!” Jo Bell glared at her mother. “How can you say that? You never talk