November 19 – Just a few hundred yards from our mission home in Africa was another home, this one occupied by the Hiten family. They had two children, Evadne, about my age, and a younger son, Stevie. About all I remember about Stevie was one of his favorite phrases, “Bee-bo, bee-bo, bee-bo”.
One night my mom heard a voice calling loudly from the Hiten home, Mrs. Hiten calling for her husband – “George! George!” George could not hear her, for he was across the campus at a staff meeting along with my dad. Mom decided she had better go across to the Hitens and see if she could be of any help. At the Hitens’ home she found mother and children all up on the kitchen table, obviously frightened by something in the room. And the enemy was on the wall…
It turned out to be a wall spider, a fairly common spider that was extremely flat, not very large and certainly not hostile. These spiders lived behind pictures hanging on walls or behind wall moldings, and scampered around on the walls looking for insects. They could be found in every home, so Mom was puzzled that this one should have inspired such terror, but she promptly dispatched it. The three table-bound Hitens scrambled down and gave her many thanks for their fateful deliverance from danger. – DALE