» Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:57 pm
Last night, I met a man who was caught upside down in a giant spiderweb. He was very thin and pale -all limbs, really- and he was stuck so fast that the only part of his body that could move was his head (the eyes and mouth, mostly). He told me could not remember how long he had been caught like that, though he seemed rather philosophic about his predicament.
Not wanting to see him be eaten by some kind of horrible spider monstrosity (absent from the web, at the time, but I wasn't going to just leave him there), I cut the web down and helped him out of it.
Once free, he stretched like a cat and plopped down on the edge of a nearby stone basin- it looked like it should have been full of water, but was bone-dry, with a few curling brown leaves at the bottom.
Then the stranger reached one long-fingered hand into his mouth and down his throat, in a maneuver that was not unlike something a sword-swallower might do. Seriously, his entire forearm went in.
He withdrew his hand and held it out to me, smiling, palm up. I reached out toward the invitation, but the instant my fingers touched his hand, he dissolved.
I was left standing, arm outstretched, in a rapidly-dispersing cloud of blue butterflies.
It took me a good ten seconds before I realized that there was something in my hand.
It was an ornate brass key- small, heavy for its size, and slightly damp.
I slipped it into the briast pocket of my coat, and continued on my way.