Spiders on the Case by Kathryn Lasky Page A

wig. She began to crawl down Agnes’s bangs and leapt onto the rim of her glasses. It was an act of stunning courage, for Jo Bell knew that Felix had lost a leg the only time he confronted a human. But this woman was creeping up on Tom with a fat book that could knock him senseless, and Jo Bell couldn’t simply stand aside.

    A second later, Buster landed by her side. “Venom! Use your venom, Jo Bell!”
    â€œI can’t!” Jo Bell cried.
    A sudden terrible scream tore the air. Jo Bell felt as though she were falling, falling … falling. But it was Agnes Smoot who was falling. Her eyes crossed crazily as she looked up at Jo Bell dangling on the bridge of her glasses.
    â€œBROWN RECLUSE!” she shrieked.
    The glasses and the book all went tumbling to the floor. Tom turned around and, seeing how narrowly he had escaped being clobbered by a five-pound book, grew deathly pale.
    â€œDon’t faint now!” Jo Bell screamed.
    And although he didn’t speak spider, Tom seemed to understand. The next thing she knew, he was racing to his desk to hit the emergency button.
    And then it was over.

T he next morning, the Boston Globe headlines screamed:
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    VANDALS AND VERMIN INFEST
RARE BOOKS ROOM OF BPL!
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    At ten that morning, Tom Parker held a press conference.
    â€œIs it true, Mr. Parker, that the suspect claims she was about to be attacked by a brown recluse spider, and that’s why she carried an X-ACTO blade?”
    â€œAn X-ACTO blade for a spider? C’mon, sir. Why not a can of insecticide? It’s not true.” Tom turned to face the TV cameras. “What is true is that Agnes Smoot — and we now know her real name is Diane de Funk — and her husband, Eldridge Montague, are thieves who thought nothing of cutting up priceless books, treasures of the Boston Public Library. The public has been robbed. No more questions, ladies and gentlemen.”
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    Tom went to his office and sat at his desk. The wonderful web still stretched across the computer screen. The five spiders had arranged themselves in a neat row on the top edge of the screen. “Oh, my goodness,” he whispered, overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of these tiny heroes.
    At that moment, the telephone rang.
    â€œYes, President Wilkins.” He paused. His face went white. “Tomorrow morning … so soon? Do you really feel this is necessary?” There was a long pause. “But … but … Yes, Mr. President. I’ll put up a notice. The Rare Books Department will be sealed off. Closed. I realize … quite toxic. I’ll tell my staff not to come in for three days until the air clears.”
    Not again! mourned Edith.
    â€œGood-bye, President Wilkins.” Tom wanted to slam down the telephone, but for fear of jiggling the marvelous web, he set it down softly.
    Tom took off his glasses. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. “I know that I cannot understand your language, but somehow you understand mine. I think you know that this is farewell. The city sanitation department insists on sending an extermination team tomorrow.” He sighed. “Public safety, they say. If they only knew!”
    Tom wiped his eyes, put on his glasses again, hit a button on his keyboard, and began to type. The screen soon pulsed with colorful pictures.

    â€œFarewell, my friends,” Julep translated. “That’s what he wrote.” She turned to Edith. “Mom, he was our first human friend and now we’re losing him.”
    Edith was not sure how to answer, but all the children were looking to her. “Do you remember, children, when we first arrived here at the Boston Public Library, and Tom welcomed us so warmly? Do you remember what you asked, Julep?”
    â€œI asked if this was the Place Where Time Has Stopped. The place where spiders can live in the open and never be afraid of humans. Where no humans are ever afraid of us, and there are no E-Men,