When Elizabeth Weston could not explain why England had a civil war in 1642, she began to scream, saying she had seen a black widow spider in her desk.†
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Gloria Whelan, Listening for Lions, 2005
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I know it is a cliché, but it really did have a Sears, Roebuck catalog on the floor, and a sawn-off broom handle, to do in the five-inch centipedes and black widow spiders and the odd snake.†
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Rick Bragg, All Over but the Shoutin', 1997
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As it turned out, though, Josie Cormier had grown into a stunning young woman, one who was quiet and thoughtful and not at all like the vacuous, material girls who trolled the Mall of New Hampshire or encompassed the social elite of Sterling High-girls Lacy had always likened to black widow spiders, looking for someone they could destroy.†
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Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes, 2007