>"Oh hey a Mormon Metalmark. Cute little fella aren't you." I gently reach down and let the guy crawl on my finger. Not too long and you'll cocoon up into a butterfly, huh little guy?
>Movement in the corner of my eye as I'm squatting down in the school's flower bed. I whip my head. It's Rosa.
>"O-Oh Hi rosa what's up?" I try to quickly get the caterpillar off my hand and back to his little abode. He's more interested in crawling up then down, though.
>"Uh, Trish." Rosa points at my little tag-along.
>"He's fine I just.." I try to push him off. I finally manage to get him back onto his plant.
>"What's up?" I try to save face. Move away from me playing with a bug.
>"You called that a Mormon metalmark?" shit i guess she heard that.
>"...yeah?"
>"I didn't know you cared about insects, too." she smiles wide. Wait, too?
>"Huh?"
>"We get those down in Rexico, too. Think they're nice." Rosa walks over and squats down, getting a good look at our little caterpillar friend.
>I rejoin her, getting another good look at the furry thing.
>"Bugs and plants are more intertwined than most people think." Rosa looks over to me. I think I get it.
>"I would think you'd wanna run the little thing out of here, eating plants and all."
>"He's just living his life, why bother him?"
>We watch in silence as he goes about his little bug life, crawling and eating.
>"So...?" She wants me to talk about how I, of all people, ended up caring about insects.
>"I had a book about ants growing up. Started there. I kept learning about all the bugs of the world. There's a ton, yknow?" Rosa nods along
>"Just kind of find it interesting. Their own little worlds and life." I pick the leaf our subject is currently digging into up a bit, revealing him again.
>"The beauty of nature." Rosa speaks what I'm feeling.
>We crouch a moment before Rosa reaches down to pick the guy up herself. He happily crawls on up.
cont. real butterfly btw.