Read The Liberation of Gabriel King for Free Online

followed at a distance, and as I walked, my sneakers sunk deep into the muck. It had stopped raining now, but the trees were all drippy, and every now and then an extra-big drip would collect on the end of a clump of moss and wait there until I looked up so it could fall smack in my eye.
    “You could at least tell me what we’re looking for,” I yelled, but Frita didn’t answer, so I stuck the jar in the crook of an old bent tree and sat down on a dead branch.
    It was quiet for a long time and I started to worry Frita’d been eaten, until I heard her hollering.
    “Quick! Get the jar! Hurry!”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I found one! I found one!”
    “Found what?”
    “A spider!” Frita yelled. “Come quick!”
    I’d been hurrying, but soon as she said that, I slowed way down.
    A spider?!
    Frita jumped up and down, waving her arms. Her yellow slicker had belonged to Terrance first, so it was too big for her and the arms looked like flags in the distance. I stalled for a long time so the spider could hightail it out of there. First, I pretended I couldn’t remember where I’d put the jar. Then I walked real slow, like I was trying to avoid all the deep spots.
    “The jar! The jar!” Frita yelled.
    When I finally reached her, she was standing in front of a giant spiderweb that stretched the whole distance between two huge cypress trees. A human being could get caught and eaten in a web that big. I swallowed hard, hoping the spider had made its getaway, and Frita danced from one leg to the other.
    “Quick! Give me the jar.”
    I paused real long. “You mean this jar?”
    “Yes! Hurry!”
    I studied the jar, thinking maybe it needed some polishing up before I could hand it over, but I didn’t have a chance to do anything because Frita grabbed it out of my hands.
    “I found the best spider,” she said.
    Now, in my book there was no such thing as a best spider. Maybe an invisible spider would be a best spider, but even that wouldn’t be any good because I didn’t want tothink of invisible spiders crawling on me when I didn’t know about it.
    I squinted at the web. “I don’t see any spider,” I said, thinking it probably took the hint and scrammed, but that’s when Frita pointed up. There, right above my head, was the biggest yellow-and-black spider I had ever seen. It was so big and fat, I wondered how it could stay on the web without falling through. Every last drop of blood drained from my face and rushed to my toes.
    Frita was some excited. She reached toward the spider with the jar, but she could hardly stop fidgeting. She positioned the jar in back of the spider and the lid in front of the spider, and then she started to move real slow…
    That’s when I felt it on me. Spiders were famous for jumping long distances, and I could feel its hairy legs on my neck. I let loose a scream, and then I started shaking and twisting, trying to get it off. Frita was yelling and hollering too, but I couldn’t stop to listen.
    “It’s on me,” I yelled. “Get it off! Get it off!”
    I imagined it slipping inside the neck of my shirt, so I tore that shirt off and peeled out of my overalls. I was dancing around in my underwear and sneakers, and all I could think about was getting out of that swamp and getting home once and for all. I ran fast as I could, yelling and splashing, and every step I took, I felt that spider on me. I ran so fast, I blazed a trail straight back to the trailer park.
    I didn’t stop moving until I reached my place. Then I flungopen the front door and ran straight past Momma into my bedroom, where I tore off my sneakers and underwear. I shook my whole body and watched for flinging spiders, but there weren’t any. Then I stood in front of my mirror and looked real careful. I even checked my hair to make sure it hadn’t hitched a ride in there.
    Momma kept knocking on the door, saying she was going to come in, and when your momma says she’s coming in, it’s pretty much true even