Don’t be put off.

It was just a spider butchering a fly. Pardon if you are squeamish about insects — like my wife, with whom I offered to share the 10-minute video of the highlights. She can’t stand bugs and has flat-out refused to watch my awesome documentary.

This fight was brutal, intriguing, and engaging. From beginning to the very fatal end. And it happened last week, right in front of me. While I was sitting at my desk. At work.

If you are still queasy, let me add that it was a rather tiny spider versus a relatively bigger, but small fly.

One last confession. It was also not quite a “butchering”; just a battle between a predator and its prey.

I hope I haven’t sucked all the hype out. Please read on.

As I turned up to work last Monday morning, little did I know that I was about to become an urbanized, much less rustic David Attenborough for a few hours. I switched on my PC and spotted a spider on top of my monitor.

There was also a fly flapping around nearby. If only I had started filming immediately, I would have had a more complete feature film. The spider moved swiftly, grabbed the fly with all (eight?) limbs, and they both hit the desk.

A Closer Look

Before I go too far, let me state that this will probably not be as exciting for a lot of people. But for me, it was the beginning of over 3 hours of captivating viewing. At least 15 minutes of it was a solid, great watch.

Now I know this is a commonplace thing. And yes, I have seen this play out before, but I never really pay any attention anymore. Not since childhood. For some reason, that day, it felt like a treat, so I turned on my camera and started recording. I even tried a bit of narration.

How did this simple thing turn into an article?

You see, I have the writer’s curse.

I have the tendency to want to commit certain things I see and feel to paper; random events are sometimes translated into words by my subconscious. So, an article started forming at the back of my mind as I watched the melee from 30 centimeters away.