Magnifying

“What did you do with them?” she asked, looking contrite.

“I let them build webs in my room,” I said. “It was nice. It felt like I was doing something truly good. I could have killed them myself, or had my dad do it for me. But instead I decided to live with them and let them share the space with me. Sometimes, when I stared at one for long enough, I felt like I might have seen the face of God.”

“Yet you’re an atheist,” she said, poking down at the specimen moving up her arm. “Also, you’re weird. Spiders don’t have souls. They don’t have feelings, and no one misses them when they die. Why be nice to them?”

“Do you really think that?” I said, surprised.