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The sun was nice and warm
for an autumn day. Maggie was watching a fat orange caterpillar climbing
up the stem of a rose bush in their flower garden. Gran was clipping dead
roses from the bush. "Oh look, Gran. See this caterpillar. It’s ugly. Look
at the big black spots on it," Maggie said.
Gran stepped over to see
the insect. "I think it’s beautiful. Look how orange it is. What a lovely
shade! Maggie, soon that will be a butterfly. It won’t stay around for
long though."
"Where will it go, Gran?"
Maggie asked.
"Butterflies always fly
south, down towards the continent. It’s too cold up here in the highlands
for them at this time of year. This fellow is late," Gran said.
"I think bugs are ugly,
Gran. I don’t like them at all. I hate spiders," Maggie said forcefully.
Gran ignored her and
continued clipping her roses down. Several yellow roses were still on the
stems and filled with a glorious scent. Maggie walked over to a big stone
lying in the dirt. She lifted it up. "Oh look, Gran. Rolly-polly bugs!
Come and see, Gran."
Gran went over to Maggie.
"Why don’t you pick one up? They tickle," she said.
"No, Gran. I don’t like
bugs. What if it bites me?" Maggie asked.
Gran bent over and picked
up a rolly-polly bug. It curled up in a ball in the palm of her hand.
"See, Maggie. It’s afraid of me. It rolled up and won’t open up again
until it feels safe."
Maggie watched the bug. It
started to open up and began to crawl up Gran’s hand. Gran giggled. "It
tickles. Here. Why don’t you hold it for a minute? It won’t bite," Gran
promised.
Hesitantly Maggie opened
her hand and put it next to Grans. The bug crawled right onto her fingers.
"It does tickle," Maggie chuckled. She let it crawl all over her hands.
Gran went back to her pruning. Maggie played with the bug for a few
minutes. She saw several others in the dirt and picked them up. Soon she
had five rolly-polly bugs crawling on her hands and arms. She laughed
because they tickled her so much. When she was finished playing with them,
she put them back down in the dirt and put the rock back on top of them.
"That was fun," she said to Gran.
"You see, Maggie? Bugs
aren’t all bad," Gran explained.
Just then a very big
bumblebee flew past and landed in the roses next to Gran. "Gran, run fast.
A bee is in the rose," Maggie cried, backing up a few steps.
"No, hen. I don’t need to
run. The bumblebee won’t hurt me. It is gathering pollen to make nectar
and honey. It knows I won’t hurt it. Come closer. We’ll watch it
together," Gran urged
Slowly Maggie moved towards
her gran. They stood next to the rose and watched the bumblebee. It was
black and made buzzing sounds. "Look how funny its legs are, Gran. They
are covered with yellow stuff. What is that?" she asked her gran.
"That’s the pollen," Gran
explained.
They stood and watched the
bee fly from one rose to another. "If you cut all the roses off, Gran,
then how will it get pollen?" Maggie asked.
"I’m not cutting them all
off. I’m leaving the ones that are still healthy and alive," she said.
"Good. I want the bee to
have lots of pollen so it can make honey. I like honey," Maggie smiled.
After thinking for a few moments, she added, "I don’t think I hate bugs
any more, Gran. They aren’t so bad. Caterpillars turn into pretty
butterflies. Bees make honey and rolly-polly bugs tickle."
"But I still hate spiders!"
Maggie frowned.
Gran started to laugh and
gave Maggie a big hug. They went back into the house and had honey
sandwiches and a glass of milk. |
