Missie's "Butterfly"
We'd had our excitement with
when she had cared
for and hatched the big, beautiful moth. Some months later, Missie found a cocoon of her own. "I'm going to hatch me a
butterfly," she said. She brought the cocoon inside and kept it in her room. She was excited about the big butterfly she would have as a pet. We told her not to expect too much, that the cocoon might not hatch at all ~ and if it did, it might not be as pretty as Susan's moth. Missie wanted to try it anyway. Weeks went by and nothing happened. We forgot all about it.
One day, Mother went in to clean Missie's room and found the big surprise. The cocoon had hatched, all right, but there was no butterfly. Instead, covering the room, were tiny praying mantises ~ dozens of them ~ no longer than an eyelash! We could barely see them, let alone catch them. It took forever to capture and set the little critters outside. We continued to find praying mantises for days and days. It didn't help that mantises, though pretty and fascinating, are rather scary little boogers, with their creepy, hypnotic stare that stays fixed on its prey ~ or on its predator (us, in this instance).
Mother decided, then and there, that our family would no longer be in the cocoon business. Any future cocoons were to be pre-approved and well quarantined until hatching. Thus ended the misadventure of Missie's cocoon.
Cocoon Surprise
