Wolf Spider

Dad calls
I wake
run for his water
but have to wait
while he raises his shaking hand
bent at the wrist
fingers dangling
towards his face.
He thinks he is smoking
I picture a bird
and see a spider
run across the green carpet.
I miss it twice with his slipper
screaming as it runs under the couch
that I sleep on
in the living room
beside his hospital bed.

Dad yells for Mom
says she should kill the spider
she should sleep on the couch
I tell him it’s easier for me to wake up
and it is
since I can hardly sleep anyway

Once when we were kids
my sister saw the brown wolf spider
in our bed, between our faces
Dad searched, shook out the sheets
found nothing.
We thought maybe she was dreaming
till I opened my eyes
and saw it on my pillow.