On a peaceful, Sunday afternoon, I sat reading reading in the garden, but became distracted by an intense buzzing behind me. Initially, I tried to ignore it, but the sound became more and more urgent.

Tearing my attention away from my book, I looked up. There was a fly caught in a spider’s web. The spider had wrapped arms around the fly who was struggling to get away. As I watched, the spider slowly subdued the fly, which was equal to her size, and then began to encircle the fly in its webbing.

Next thing I knew, the spider had suspended the fly on the web and then built what I suppose was the equivalent of a ladder, strengthening her path in a way that would enable her to carry the fly to a less exposed place to feast on later. More quickly than I could have imagined, the spider whisked the fly across the web and into the overhang of the jasmine. She then hid herself in the nearby leaves, presumably awaiting the next bug to fall prey to her web.

Though I certainly knew how a spider hunted, I will confess I had never witnessed it with my own eyes. The speed and ease with which this spider took down this fly both impressed and sickened me. It makes me realize how many things I know, but have yet to understand.