Chapter 13

The barn was the second structure to be built when the settlers of the land came to claim. It was sturdy and large. The second story held various types of hay; Alfalfa, Timothy and a few bales of sweet clover mix. Bales of straw lined one side of the lower level stacked head high. Electricity had been added to the barn in the late 1970's. As Grissom and Jared approached the large double barn door, he grabbed his sons shoulder and stopped him.

"Now we are going to have to be very quite." Grissom spoke lightly.

"Ok, I can be quite. I have snuck-up on a lot of stuff…even mom." Jared said crouching in a tip-toe position.

The dim lights were left on every night until the mare delivered. Sara would often get up in the middle of the night to check on her. The slow movement of the barn door made a slight creaking sound. The horses stirred and looked up. Grissom and Jared crept in slowly, peering around like two children investigating an abandoned house.

A clicking sound startled Jared. He looked toward where the sound came, "cool!"

"Shhhhh" Grissom said with his finger over his mouth.

"Where'd you get the cool flashlight?" Jared mouthed, barely hissing his words.

"My job." Grissom whispered back.

The two moved cautiously down the main aisle sweeping the light from the flashlight from one edge of the barn to the other. "Small spaces, we may have to turn over some bales of straw" Grissom spoke quietly. "There's a bale of hay over in that corner that mom says not to use, it's got mold in it." Jared pointed to the corner. Grissom looked at his son, "a good place to start, do you have the jar ready?" Jared held the jar up to show his father, "holes in the top too!" he said grinning.

They silently moved toward the bale of hay. The light of the flashlight illuminated a small area around it. Jared opened the jar and bent down preparing to catch something…anything. "Sorry Jared, I'll be the one to hold the jar, I need your big muscles to move the hay." Grissom said with a smile. "Oh, ok, I can do that. I move 'em all the time." Jared said pretending to be big and strong. Grissom bent down holding the flashlight between his teeth and the jar and lid in his hands. "Slowly now, I want you to just tip one end up, ok?"

The very minute Jared lifted the end of the bale, the pregnant mare let out an ear piercing whinny. Startled, Grissom fell back onto the floor with a stunned look on his face. "DAD! Look! There's one, there's one…get it…get it!" Jared yelled, never flinching to the sound of the mare.

Grissom gathered himself and looked in the vicinity that Jared was pointing. "Loxosceles reclusa." Grissom said aloud. It almost seemed that there was a moment in time that the spider and Grissom shared. The spider crouched into the attack position but held still. Grissom moved the jar and lid slowly, accurately, with care toward the spider. The mare screamed again, more adamantly. "Dad, hurry, something is wrong with the mare!" Jared said anxiously. In one swift scoop, Grissom trapped the spider and locked the lid down. "Got you," he said catching the flashlight as it fell from his mouth.

"Hey, what are you two doing in here?" Sara firmly stated. Grissom and Jared turned quickly to see her standing a few feet from them with her arms folded in front of her. "I…um…we..," Grissom studdered. "Mom! He caught a spider, a fat one, look!" Jared pointed to the jar Grissom had tried to hide behind his back. The mare let out a call of pain, this time turning all the heads in the barn. "Is it time?" Jared said dropping the bale of hay he was still holding. "I think it's time." Sara replied.