Timothy was not happy. He was told to tidy his room. He was working on his maths and was searching everywhere for a rubber to correct some errors.
Patrick came into his room and found him digging through a drawer and saw how cluttered it was.
"You are going to sort through this mess on Saturday before you get your hands on my Lancet," Patrick said waving his hand around the room and finished by pointed at the opened drawer.
Now he was sorting through bits of old pencils and odds and ends. There were rubber bands, marbles and odd dominos. Somehow he had managed to collect a whole assortment of things. He even found a small black rubber spider. He actually almost jumped when he saw it. It looked almost real.
Smiling he had an idea. When he was finished his task, he left the spider on the tea tin in the kitchen. Then he sat down to enjoy the medical publication.
He was completely engrossed in an article when he heard a very loud and panicked, "AHHH!"
"Shelagh what's the matter," Patrick said as he rushed into the kitchen.
"Spider!"
Timothy was watching the scene smiling. He noticed his father looking at him with almost as smile as he assured his wife that it was just a toy.
Timothy thought the whole episode was funny even if Mum did not.
"Timothy, that was not very nice," Shelagh said, but she too was laughing now that she knew it wasn't real.
"Perhaps you should go out and get some fresh air if you are so bored that you have time for practical jokes," she scolded.
When Timothy said goodnight after a relaxing evening which his father had not been called out, he was given permission to read for a bit before turning out his light.
Patrick poked his head in and said, "Light out, son."
Reluctantly Timothy put his book down and reached over to turn out his lamp, but before he could he jerk his body away.
"Something wrong?" Patrick asked.
"Nope. Goodnight Dad."
Patrick knew Timothy was hiding that he was startled because on his lamp was the spider.
When he entered their bedroom, Shelagh asked, "So?"
"He tried to hide it, but he jumped."
"You are going to find it next," she laughed.
Sure enough Patrick opened the medicine cabinet to shave the following morning and startled slightly because there was the spider.
He thought it was funny that he knew it was a toy, but he still reacted when he saw the little spider. He also decided it was Shelagh's went in Angela's room and set it on the pile of clean nappies.
Shelagh's response when she reached for a nappy was not as shocking as the first time. She suspected Patrick, so she left in his drawer on top of his clean handkerchiefs.
This continued for days….Patrick left it on Timothy's toothbrush...Timothy left it in Shelagh's sewing box...Shelagh left it on the piano keys...Timothy left it on the telephone...Patrick left it under some drying dishes...Shelagh left it on the toilet paper.
Weeks went by and she did not see it or hear about it. She wondered if it was accidently flushed.
One day she was dusting Timothy's room and she moved a cup containing pencils and behind it was the spider.
She realized that Patrick must have found it and left it for Timothy who had yet to see it. She decided to leave it for Tim to find. He could decide if this little game should continue…...
My family played this game over the holiday break with a beetle sticker. I too thought it was flushed until I came across it this week in a bin belonging to my daughter. I left it. At the time I was also thinking that I had run out of Turner stories….