Of Spiders and Superpowers

    “Krak-OOF! That’s how you say where we’re going to live,” Sheri told Szerykl. “And you can call me ‘Babcia.’ That’s what Polish people call a grandmother –a nice word, don’t you think?”

     Szerykl did think it was a nice word. But wasn’t Sheri too young to be a grandmother? Well, perhaps. In Kraków, Michael and Sheri and Szerykl moved into an apartment on the fourth floor with a grand window overlooking a busy street with trams and buses rolling and people walking to and fro. Sometimes they heard sirens. But so far, there had never been helicopters, like there are sometimes on S. Avenue in Baltimore.

    Because there are no screens on the apartment window, Szerykl, who is an unusual bunny because she is not afraid of heights, stepped out on the ledge to explore. And just like that, she poked her paw on a long spike. “Rats!” she exclaimed, forgetting that she was no longer in Baltimore. But no, the spikes aren’t to keep rats away. They shoo away the pigeons that otherwise will sit outside the window and maybe even come inside looking for rabbit food.

    When Szerykl looked beyond the spikes, she saw the most amazing building – right across the street. It was a handsome old building, full of gargoyles and curlicues and even words carved into the stone right above the main door.

    “Si deus nobiscum, quis contra nos,” Babcia read out loud. "Oh that’s easy!" said Szerykl: "If God be with us, who can be against us?"

    Babcia stared at the bunny. "You -- you understand Latin?!?" she stammered. Her voice was full of wonder.  

     Szerykl just beamed. She felt a little fluff of happiness.

     It is true that Szerykl cannot read. But it is also true that she has a superpower. This rabbit understands not only Latin, but every other language too, both human and animal. It's still a secret, though. She's not ready to tell Babcia all about it.

    But back to the building: the best part was way up high on the tippy-top: a giant spider web, with a fat aqua spider right in the middle of it.

    Szerykl was used to spiders in Baltimore – Daddy Longlegs and those odd things that lived in the basement —sprickets, they were called, half spider and half cricket. Szerykl tried to talk to them sometimes. But this spider was bigger even than Charlie, the black dog she had left behind with the girl E in Baltimore. 

    “Is it a magic spider? Can it move?”  Szerykl, the magic bunny, asked Babcia. No, Babcia told her, this spider is made of copper and its web is bronze.

     “But why is the spider there?” Szerykl wanted to know.

     Sheri and Michael were curious, too. What they learned was even more astonishing than finding a giant spider on top of the house. A famous architect had lived in this spider house, they told Szerykl. His name was Teodor Talowski and he loved making buildings with dragons and donkeys and frogs and birds and other animals. He even made his own bricks! They were different colors and had bulges and lumps. But Mr. Talowski loved making buildings out of these bricks all around Kraków. Mr. Talowski (in Polish you would call him Pan Talowski, instead of “Mr.”) even carved his own name into the buildings.

     Pan Talowski built the spider house in 1889, more than a hundred years ago. In Poland, people often like to name their buildings. A lot of times, that name has to do with an animal that might be carved into the building.

Pod Smokiem:  Under the Dragon.

    So if you were giving someone directions, you might say, “It’s the building under the dragon.” The Polish word for “under” is pod, so you would say “Pod Smokiem” and it would mean “Under the Dragon.” 

     Or, says Szerykl, “Pod Pająkiem, Under the Spider.” (Remember, she has a superpower!) “Pod Osłem: Under the Donkey. Pod Śpiewającą Żabą: Under the Singing Frog.” (Yes, it really shows a frog playing a mandolin.)

Pod Śpiewającą Żabą: Under the Singing Frog.

    Now, every day, Szerykl steps out on the ledge to say good morning to the spider. She has not yet named the spider but is taking suggestions. Maybe the spider should be called “Charlotte”?

     Meanwhile, she thinks that the building where she lives with Sheri and Michael, where she looks out from the ledge onto the street below, should be known as Pod Króliczkiem: Under the Bunny.