In the centre of the screen is a drawing of a daddy long leg. Though this could be misleading, as there are actually three insects nicknamed daddy long legs. This particular one has neither wings, a slim mosquito-like body, nor a pinched waist. It is, more accurately, a harvestman, recognisable by its singular, oval body and eight very thin legs.

Some have eyes, but Mariette couldn’t find any in the image she drew from, so may have drawn things that were eyes without knowing it, or accidentally excluded them by misidentifying them as something else.

Although also an arachnid, what I’m describing is not technically a spider. Harvestmen produce neither venom nor silk, and doesn’t liquefy its prey. They munch on solid, organic matter and aren’t picky. They diligently cleans their front sensory legs using their mouth appendages, and large groups, nicknamed ‘beards’, gather in ridiculously dense clusters to stay warm.

Anyway, this harvestman was found in an image titled, ‘A daddy long leg (Opaline) on the photographer’s hat brim, cleaning its long leg.’ from the article, ‘HumBug: Who’s Your Daddy?’ by Anthony Westkamper, July 31, 2016, North Coast Journal of Politics, People & Art. It was drawn in blue biro during the initial 2020 lockdown but has since faded. Denser at the roots and joints of some legs and the pincer-like mouthparts, or ‘chelicerae’, the drawing is otherwise made up of faint marks, with some parts of the legs disappearing almost entirely.

It should’ve been mentioned by now that it’s moving, although this could be missed at first glance, so maybe it’s best you weren’t told until now. Its chelicerae rhythmically shift inwards and outwards, and its body breathes gently. Each leg is labelled with a small, red letter from ‘a’ to ‘h’, starting at the left chelicera and working clockwise. Clicking a letter causes the nearest leg to jerk upwards after a few seconds, then drift more gently downwards, as if through water. It’s an odd, unnatural kind of movement for an arachnid, as is the humming that accompanies it. Clicking multiple legs causes the sounds and movements to layer on top of each other.