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Ollie loved scary things. He loved lions and tigers and bears, He loved alligators and sharks with big sharp teeth. He loved two-headed monsters and dinosaurs and ghosts and goblins and great big bugs of all kinds in all shapes and sizes.

But, most of all, Ollie loved spiders.

One day, Ollie was playing in the back yard and found a spider. It was the biggest, baddest spider he had ever seen. Ollie captured the spider in a jar and brought it inside.

"Look what I found!" shouted Ollie. "Can I keep it?"

"Eek!" cried Mommy. "I'm afraid of spiders!"

Ollie just laughed and said, "It's OK. I'll keep him in the jar."

"Well," said Mommy, "I guess you can keep him for a little while, as long as you keep him in the jar."

Daddy laughed and said, "It's fine. But don't you dare let that scary old spider get me!"

Ollie said, "Spider's gonna get you, Daddy!" Then he laughed and laughed as he chased Daddy all through the house with the spider in the jar.

Finally, it was time for bed, so Ollie put some dead flies and a few leaves in the jar for the spider to eat. A balanced diet is very important, you know. And then Ollie drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, Ollie noticed that the food was all gone and the spider looked a little bigger. The same thing happened the next day and every day after that.

After a few days, Ollie had to put the spider in a bigger jar.

After a few weeks, Ollie couldn't find a jar big enough, so he let the spider run free, but he kept the door to his room closed so that the spider could not get out into the rest of the house.

Then one day, just before the whole family went out, Ollie forgot and left the door open, The spider escaped from his room and wandered into the kitchen. When he saw all the food there, he started eating everything in sight. He was hungry!