Death of a Neighbour

She had been getting on a bit and had outlived all but one of her sisters who lived in the town house complex who had all succumbed to the cold of the last few weeks. She was noticeably slowing down and her usually beautiful home was looking disheveled. She spent most of her time in our garden and we would wave and take a moment to observe her on our busy bustling way past whilst she sat in the morning sun or shealtered from the rain within the ferns. We never named her but her now empty spot in the garden is a reminder that nature does not care. Her once beautiful golden web has been dismantled by the breakfast rituals of the wattle birds jumping through the grevillea. Her shriveled corps a shadow of her once plump presence. We saw her suiters come and go and once counted over 20 bees strung out in her trophy line. Around xmass there were 87 Nephila plumpies between the road and our door. Last week there were two and today, just the one.