NEXT BEST NEST
The spiderlings finally hatched
and the first thing they did
was climb to the highest place they could find

Each one stood on their tiptoes
with their belly out,
pushing
transparent
silken threads
from their spinnerets
As the silk stretched longer and longer,
it caught the tiniest of wind gusts
and one
by one
by one
the spiderlings were pulled high
into the sky
floating on electric fields
like hundreds of tiny kites

The journey for one tiny spidering
came abruptly to a halt
when their silken thread
caught the outside skin of a tree’s bark
and yanked them backwards

The tiny spiderling braced for impact
and declared their first mission a success
landing with a triumphant

*Ooooof*

Once they got their bearings,
they looked around for another tree
to make a nest between
and they quickly found one
pretty close by
BUT
there was an even better tree

over there
so far away
They thought, If they built their nest between
those two trees
they would have the most epic nest ever!
It was decided
Filled with vigor and vim
and riding the high
from a successful first flight
the tiny spiderling pushed
and pushed
and pushed out a silken thread long enough to reach the far away tree
“come on”
The silk danced in the air
and the very tip of the end found a home on the bark of the far away tree
Yes!
The spiderling quickly tied off the silk
and with that the first two points were made
Making a nest from here on out was going to be a breeze
Walking upside-down on a tightrope made of silk,
weaving connection points between the two trees
this was almost looking like a proper nest
Then it was time to make a spiral
starting with the inside
where all the silk threads
cross each other
After several times around the web,
the spiderling left a space
and then started to form
an outer spiral
but this time they coated the silken thread
with glue droplets
As they placed the final drop of glue
the spiderling let out a sigh of accomplishment
and knew they were in for a good long nap
They were startled awake by a small wiggling motion
somewhere in the web
and quickly went over
to see what it was
“aha!”
“My first fly!”
And scuttled over to encase the fly in a cocoon of silk
And so it went for nights and days like this
“I couldn’t pick out a better dream to live in,” they thought.
“I have the best nest ever!”
One early morning
just as the sun was peeking over the mountains,
they saw something they’d never seen before
A huge creature and it was coming right for them!
The creature hit the web and didn’t even slow down
It ran right through the web and kept right on going as if nothing happened at all
The spiderling was pulled to the right
and then snapped back to the left
and hanging on for dear life
they could see their nest was ripped two shredded chunks
Just like that;
clinging to the silk
whipping back and forth on half of their tattered nest
the spiderling was heartbroken
Shattered
Overwhelmed and dismayed
With tears in their eyes,
the spiderling caressed the silk in their hands
and started to eat the thread
They wondered
what that was
and
why it didn’t get caught in their nest?
They feared
they were never ever going to be able to make a nest so epic again
The closer tree
started to look pretty good
right about then
Less silk
Less time
Less energy
to make it
“There would still be plenty of flies coming by,
and honestly I caught more than I could ever eat by myself…”
As the spiderling was eating
the tangled silk threads
they felt a burst of energy
Inspiration!
They stood on their tip toes with their belly out and pushed out
a reasonable length of silk
The wind took it easily and
latched on to the bark of the nearby tree
Repeating the process of the first nest,
the little spiderling thought,
“This won’t be as epic as the first nest. I know it. But I can’t have such a big nest that takes so much effort to make, if big things like that are just going to come along here and break it”
The spider sighed
and continued to drop a thread
at the center
Around and around they spiraled
Retracing their steps
and making connections between
the two trees
They coated the second spiral with drops glue
and this little spider
had given everything they had for the night
It was time to take a nap
Many files were caught
and any small repairs
that needed to be made,
along the way, were easily tended to
And every few days
the spider would see
the huge creature running so close to them
Right through where their first nest was
But they never came through the new nest spot
The spider lived many days and grew older and happier on their reliable nest
One day, when they were making tiny puppets out of bits of fly wings
they noticed a spiderling
with a silk strand
ballooning through the air
like a tiny kite
The silk made contact with their tree
and the old spider watched as the spiderling
was jerked backwards in the air
coming to a thunk
onto the bark
“Wooo hoooo! What a ride that was!
Hey! Do you mind if I make a nest off of this tree?
I was thinking I could make a nest that goes to that other tree!”
The spiderling pointed to the far away tree.
“I don’t mind at all! But I gotta warn you, these giant creatures come through here every few sunshines and they’ll destroy all your hard work!”
“You don’t care if I try though?”
“I do care but I don’t mind. Do as you like but those big creatures will be coming through here. They always do”
“But I don’t see any big creatures around here”
“They’ll come through. Should be by in two sunshines”
“Ahhh. It’s just such a perfect spot to build a nest. Why didn’t you build one over here?”
“I did..but”
“You really don’t mind. I won’t be cramping your style?”
“Not at all”
“okay then”
And the tiny spiderling climbed down from the spider’s tree
and up the far away tree
They pushed
and pushed
and pushed out a long line of silk and let the wind take it to the spider’s tree
SUCCESS!
The tiny spiderling walked the tightrope to the far away tree and began making an epic nest
A nest to be proud of
This
Now this nest
was probably the best nest ever!
The spiderling finished just as the sun was coming up and settled down in the center for a good long nap
They were shaken awake by
some movement in the outer spiral
The spiderling scuttled over
to see what was going on
and quickly made a cocoon
around the buzzing fly
That night, the spiderling
could barely keep up with
all the flies getting caught
“Do you want some of my food? I have enough for a week!”, the spiderling offered
The spider replied, “No thank you, that’s very kind of you to share but I do have enough eat. Seems like some weather is coming in, I’m gonna to sleep close to the tree tonight. You might wanna do the same”
The spiderling took the spider’s advice
clinging close to the tree
they settled in for the night
Just as the sun was peaking over the mountains,
the tiny spiderling was jostled awake
by their nest collapsing on all sides!
“Are you okay?!”, the spiderling heard from the other side of the tree
“Yes, I think so. Oh no. My whole nest…it’s broken beyond repair! I put everything into it. It was my best nest!”
“Nonsense! That was your first nest. You are naturally a very talented nest maker. Each nest you make is going to be even better than the last AND you’ll find better and better places to build them!”
Head hung low and utterly devastated, the tiny spiderling made another request,
”Do you mind if I build a nest between your two trees?”
“Above or below, makes no difference to me, I’d love your company.”
and the spiderling went on to build their next best nest.



Produced, Written, Engineered, Performed and Mastered by Holly Brewer
℗2023 Nervous Relatives Music
©2023 Nervous Relatives Records