The Yellow Spider

 

The yellow spider knew she was different though she didn’t know why. Her dad was a big black spider with spindly legs and her mother a genrle brown spider. And yet all the yellow spider’s friends treated her differently. She remembered her first day in school, when the teacher introduced her to the rest of the class. Everyone was silent and looked at her curiously.

When they started playing, other than the tiny black spider, Bessy, that grew to be her best friend everyone else would whisper around her. But then over time, she got to know everyone in the class and they would all play together. School was so much fun. But Bessy, the little black spider remained the yellow spider’s best friend.

One day, the yellow spider went to the station. At the Peterborough train station, there is a black brick wall that you can still see to this day. The black brick wall supports the bridge over the train tracks. There the yellow spider saw a lot many spiders. So many that she had never seen before. So she went over to the black wall to take a closer look. There she found a lot of cob webs. Some spiders were busy spinning more cob webs while others were selling small insects that were caught in these cob webs to other spiders. These insects were food for the spiders. Suddenly a large spider came over and asked the yellow spider in a very loud voice, “What are you doing here? Is there something you want, you little yellow spider?”. The yellow spider was startled and ran away to its mother. The mother was already frantically searching for the yellow spider and asked her where she had been. The yellow spider was sobbing and said it had gone to the black wall to see what all the spiders were doing and a big black spider had called it a yellow spider. Was she really yellow? “Yes”, said the mother. “Look at your feet”. As the yellow spider looked down at her feet, she saw that her legs were yellow! “So what can we do now”, asked the yellow spider. “Well what is there to do” asked the mother spider. You are as much as a spider as any of us. Yellow is a mark of distinction, from the rest of us who are black, red or dark brown or any other color.

The yellow spider went back to school and told her best friend Bessy, what had happened at the Peterborough station. Bessy listened to her with rapt attention. And told her wow what a fun day. “One day, I will also go to the Peterborough station”, said Bessy

That is how the yellow spider knew she was different but to this day, does not know why! That is why the yellow spider loves the Peterborough station and the big black wall near the station. Oh there is one more reason why the yellow spider likes the station but that story is for another day!