Last night I found one of those insects some call a “daddy long legs” and some call a “mosquito eater” in my bathroom. I hadn’t seen one for years, and it was a welcome sight reminding me of long ago stays in woodsy cabins that were not well-sealed from the outdoors. But for a number of reasons, I thought it would be best if its visit to the bright small room was brief. I was sure to leave the door wide open and the alluring light fixture off, hoping it would find its way to a spot near a door where we could let it outside. Later, I didn’t see it in the bathroom and imagined it was on its way.

But in the morning, I found it, by the window—in a corner that wouldn’t allow for me to catch it in a yogurt container and take it outside. On a closer look, I realized there was a half-peanut-sized ball of spider web stuck to the tip of one of its back legs. I wondered if the weight of that web could keep an insect from moving.

Since the insect was so still, I tried giving the web ball a tug. But the long spindly leg just pulled out straight, well-stuck to the web. The insect was clearly alive, and I was surprised my tug didn’t get it at least trying to fly away. Now I was in full problem-solving mode. I got scissors, thinking I might cut off most of the web and at least lighten its load. Kudos to the spiders, because web is apparently right there with rock, beating scissors. The scissors didn’t slice the web, but the experience got the insect moving, which I was glad to see. It took a short flight to the shower curtain. Now I could get the yogurt container, thinking that if this creature was going to live out its life burdened by a knob of web, at least it could do so outside.

I got the insect into the container easily, put on the lid to keep it there, walked down the hall, and opened the front door. When I looked down at the lid I was about to remove, a half-peanut-sized ball of spider web caught my eye. Could that be the same web, perfectly situated on the edge of the lid, with the insect inside? Probably another piece of debris, I thought, but I pulled it off with a small tug. Then I opened the lid. A blur zipped to the loquat tree by my front porch.

I looked and saw the now familiar insect, with six long web-free legs, sitting on the leaves of the loquat tree.