Hello again, Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your ghostly host with the most and keeper of the strangest,

spookiest tales on earth.

Today is another Ivy's chilling tale.

This hair-raising tale story club members might make you stay away from chatty

arachnids. It's one I call barn spider. Lane Marshall enjoyed his time on the farm. He loved

the fresh air. He loved all of the animals like pigs, cows, horses, and sheep. He loved the sound of the gurgling brook next to his grandfather's farmhouse.

But most of all, he loved talking to Carl the spider.

He'd quite accidentally bumped into Carl when he was walking out of the barn one evening.

Carl was a barn spider that had made an oval web.

The arachnid was just bundling up a fly that had flown into his sticky trap as Lane was walking out.

The web broke on Lane's face.

He had made a quick, frantic motion to get the webbing off his face,

hoping that the owner of the web wasn't in his hair.

Thank goodness he wasn't.

Carl the spider had managed to shimmy up a strand of nylon webbing just in time.

The spider, however, had lost his evening meal.

That really won't do.

Spindly Carl said to the boy in the tiniest voice.

Whoa, who said that?

Lane asked, looking around for the speaker.

That would be me.

...