The Caterpillar in My Pumpkin

 

 

 

Hey Guys! Holly, here!

 

Guess what I found in the garden last week? A black, fuzzy caterpillar!! He was busy munching on the big green leaves of my mom's Hosta plant. I don't think he even noticed when I plucked the leaf off to study him under my magnifying glass. He looked like a Franklin.

 

I carried Franklin inside, rushed up the stairs and locked my bedroom door before my mom could catch me. Even though she knocked a few seconds later to find out what I was up to, I simply told her I was going to take a nap. Fooled her. Instead, I let Franklin crawl around while I fished out the big plastic pumpkin that I used for trick-or-treating, which was buried deep in my closet.

 

Found it!

 

I stuffed a layer of tissues on the bottom so he could take his naps. Then, we went outside together and I ripped handfuls of leaves off my mom's Hosta plants- she wouldn't miss them- and threw those inside the hollow pumpkin too. It looked perfect to me! Franklin could eat, poop, and sleep whenever he wanted!

 

That night, Franklin slept in the pumpkin right beside my bed. I left the lid off because I made such a great place for him to live that there was no way he'd ever want to leave! Well, to my surprise, he was gone in the morning! I ruffled through all the leaves and tissues to see if he was just sleeping- nope! That little tart had run off! My mom walked in just then and started asking all kinds of questions like, "Do you know what happened to my Hostas?? Why do you have that fake pumpkin out?? Is there a critter running loose in my house?? Is there??"

 

I, of course, played dumb like any smart six-year-old would have.

 

Two weeks have gone by and I still haven't found Franklin. I'm starting to wonder if I should just go outside and find another one. I decided that I should, and this time I would name it, Mackenzie! I meandered all the way up to my room and grabbed my plastic pumpkin. I was just about to turn it up-side-down and dump out the shriveled up leaves when I saw... wings!! I couldn't believe it! I fetched my magnifying glass at once and studied the newly hatched butterfly.

 

Franklin must've spun his cocoon just under the rim of my pumpkin! He was a Tiger Swallowtail with big yellow wings, black stripes and a little bit of blue. I took him outside and watched as he fluttered over to the butterfly bushes. See? I knew what I was doing all along. Until next time..

 

-H.C. Herman