Chapter 11 Tony: 8 legged freaks
Howard's point of view
Peg and I got married, in the summer… and then we got a surprise… we got pregnant… after a very long very difficult and extremely painful labour, ending in an emergency caesarean section and an immediate hysterectomy our son Anthony (Tony) was born. Peggy was bed bound for weeks. Finally, when she was well enough to get out of bed, she did.
It was March, and unusually warm. Tony was 10 months old and was just learning to walk when this incident happened. He was sitting in the sandpit I'd built for him. He saw something that he wanted to inspect and got up onto his knees to go and get it… I helped him onto his feet and that's when I spotted a huge spider sitting on his arm… I went white and almost dropped Tony. Fortunately, Obie saw the spider and grabbed Tony before I let out a girlish shriek of abject horror and bolted… Unfortunately, Tony saw the spider, saw my reaction, and he freaked out… Peggy went inside the house, got a piece of paper and took the spider off Tony's arm… he was hysterical for hours… nothing we did consoled him, and he ended up having a convulsion… we rushed him to hospital, the doctors said the seizure was caused by the stress of meeting a spider!
