Your post reminds me of the quote from J. Frank Dobie: "The story belongs to him that tells it best." A story worth reading is one that is told well. The writer struggles with the anxiety and pleasure of producing it. The one aspect of writing that always interests me is how different readers can interpret the same story in such different ways. Sometimes, they get an idea out of the writing that was never intended by the writer. But that's all part of the beauty of the process. Looking forward to reading how Possum's tale unfolds.

We lived in a white stucco house in San Antonio, and It was always a creepy thrill to go outside after a down pouring rain to see the tarantulas that had crawled up the walls to get away from the wetness on the ground. The creepy part was how many of them there were.