Personally, I like feathers, but I prefer to see them on birds. in the mid-1980s, though, they were all the rage for people to have in their living rooms. And being one who loves to be in style, my mom had to have some feathers too.
These feathers were not the pretty little ones you may find laying in your yard. Oh, no. These were as tall as some people and very colorful. Most of the time these feathers were in a basket or some kind of vase.
Late one Sunday afternoon, Mamaw Jo came to our house and she was so excited. She and Papaw E. O. had just gotten back from visiting Papaw Janeway. At that time, he still lived in Hogskin in Union County. When they were driving down Maynardville Highway, Mamaw Jo saw baskets of tall feathers standing outside of a little store.
Give you one guess where we went the next morning.
Mom, Mamaw Jo, and I piled into Mamaw’s station wagon and headed to the little store. Mom had thought the feathers could be tied onto the top, but the feathers were too delicate for the wind. So, we had to place the feathers inside the station wagon longways and down the middle. They laid from the tailgate to the dashboard.
Mom and Mamaw Jo sat in the front and on each side of the feathers. I sat behind mom with the feathers next to my head. Mom had just turned onto Norris Freeway when movement caught my attention.
“Brown recluse!” I screamed. This hideous thing was within an inch or two of my face. With one leap, it could’ve been on my cheek. While that in itself would’ve been horrifying, I knew it was a very poisonous spider. And worst of all, I was trapped. I couldn’t just step out of a car going fifty miles an hour down Norris Freeway.
Being as afraid of spiders as I am, my mom immediately swerved on the road. I hoped and prayed she was going to pull off the road so we could all jump out of the car and run away from the spider.
Mamaw Jo was very calm as she reached into her rather large and bulky purse. She pulled out a tissue and wrapped it around the brown recluse. Then she politely rolled her window down and tossed the tissue and the spider out of it. “I swannie. I don’t know why you all are so afraid of a little spider.”
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10 (KJV)
Let’s be honest here. It’s not always so easy to not be afraid. The kind of fear mom and I had was strong and instant. But God being God, He made sure we had somebody in the car with us who wasn’t afraid of the spider. You know, I think He does that more than we think. He plans ahead for the circumstances and we don’t even realize it most of the time.
I don’t know how many times I thanked the Lord after Mamaw tossed out the spider. As for the spider, I wonder if our screams scared it as much as we were scared and it was relieved to get away from us.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.