Yesterday, in the early afternoon, I saw a caterpillar. He was heading up the house. Just moving along, not a care in the world. He was an ugly, orange little thing. Zel (my wife) noted that she’s seen a few orange butterflies around lately. The baby was napping, so I didn’t get a chance to show him.
Later that day I saw him again. He was just working his way up a post attached to the roof. I thought, “How the hell did he get over there?” Later, I went back out to see where he was and spotted what I can only conclude, as the first one. There were two. The first one made it to the underside of the roof. The other was still on the post. The first one, who will from this point on be referred to as Rodney, was actually hanging off the roof underside. Looks like Rodney is getting ready to evolve (a reference from my Pokemon days). Charles, the caterpillar on the post, was still clinging, full body.
Sure enough, Sunday morning, there was Rodney, all wrapped up. Just hanging there in a bland gray overcoat. Nothing to impressive, at least from the outside. How cool is it that in that furry, orange body are all makings of a being made for aerial superiority. How does this change work (yeah, I know, look in a 3rd grader’s science book, that’s not what I mean)? What does it go through? Is Rodney in pain, or just asleep? Does he know what’s happening to him?
As for Charles, I didn’t see him. When I really started to investigate…
Charles is dead, mid-cocoon. The ants found him.
Zel thinks Charles was sick. Maybe he died in his cocoon. I don’t know. What I do know is Rodney will forever be in Charles’ debt. If it hadn’t been for Charles, the ants may have found Rodney. I know this because these ants love running all over that part of the house. They were Rodney’s vicinity when he was just hanging yesterday.
So I started pondering, “Do I protect Rodney?” I could spray the path on the house that would lead the colony to Rodney. Or do I let nature take it’s course? If I do, is Charles’ sacrifice in vain? I watched this little gray thing just hanging there and I think about my role as dominate species on the planet. Do I have a say?
While I was writing this article, Marc called me, told me someone solved the riddle: http://z15.invisionfree.com/Arkham_Asylum/index.php?showtopic=275 I went outside to discuss doing an Arkham Month between here and his blog (whoops, I let the Cat into the jewlery store), and I looked over at the side of the house. Charles’ cocoon was gone, it finally fell. Rodney was still hanging in there. After our call, I thought about my questions a little more. And then I saw her.
Sandy is on her way up the house. Maybe I’ll just leave it all alone and see what happens.
