GoldenView
POP! And I'm SLEEPY too! But where will I sleep?"
Old Beau reminisced, as he let his worn-out wings fall to the side. "Yes,� it was truly amazing that I actually KNEW how to build a chrysalis! And I wonder?......Why don't feel that way now? I DO feel tired & it's very unbutterfly-like to lie down. He lay there,� sleepily returning to thoughts of how, as a spunky young caterpillar, he had said to himself, "I have everything I need to build myself a tiny little BEDROOM! All I have to do is hook a strand of silk on this branch. Mmmmph!"...he strained to reach exactly the right spot..." YES! .......That'll hold!" Then he'd worked for the rest of the day, until he'd wrapped himself� tightly within his silken shroud.
The next thing he knew, it was time to get up! (Beau didn't have the slightest idea what kind of metamorphosis had occurred during his sleep.) He stuck his head out and said, "I need to streeeeetch!" And as he did so, he realized that he had changed dramatically! What had been a caterpillar, was now a beautiful Monarch butterfly!
Beau remembered, with awe,� the moment he realized that he could FLY! And fly he did! "Ah yes! That was quite a day! In fact it was almost as awesome as the day I met Betty!"
When Beau met Betty (a spirited young female Monarch) it had been love at first sight! They had cavorted through the air with� complete bliss."We were as one & I knew we'd never part..well, at least I thought I knew!
Old Beau was now feeling his body go numb! "So this is dying.....there's no pain at all!" Beau breathed slowly,� as he recalled,� "I didn't know I had a special fate awaiting me!" It had happened on a warm summer day. He'd felt a little sad that day. Betty had gone to do something she'd called "urgent" & as he said goodbye,� he'd felt a strange premonition that he would not see her again. He finished a meal of daisy nectar - hoping his energy & mood would lift."Am I getting old? Hmmm...I was an egg, then a larva,� then a caterpillar, then a butterfly...Wow!" (He was old.)
Now, as Beau closed his eyes for the last time, he thought about what had happened next! He could almost feel the little pink fingers plucking him off that daisy. He pictured the black velvet purse, with it's soft silk lining. He pictured being placed ever-so- gently inside. At first he'd been scared, but it reminded him of his old cocoon. "I guess this isn't so bad."......... (Then he fell asleep.)
The pink fingers had belonged to a little girl, age 7, who had a new love in her life! Butterflies! She didn't hurt them...she just captured them, & released them. But today would be different. The little girl wasn't feeling too well. Her Mom said the red spot on her forehead was "odd" but the doctor� said, "No! It's not "odd"!.... It's the measles!"� It was 2 weeks before the little girl was well enough to go out again. She'd forgotten all about the purse &� now realized (With horror!) that she'd left the butterfly inside!� "Oh my GOSH! Could he still be ALIVE after all this time? Oh MY!� I really doubt it - he was already so old and faded."
Slowly she opened the purse, & OUT flew Beau! Reborn! Again! " Last time I fell asleep, I came out a totally new kind of person!" said Beau, "Maybe I'm YOUNG again!" (He was not.)
Beau lived one more glorious day, experiencing something no butterfly EVER does: the next generation!
Drifting off to Butterfly Heaven, he mused, "I just figured out what Betty's urgency was all about! She must have gone to lay eggs! I'll have to tell her all about the Kids!
(He smiled as he exhaled his last breath.) Ah....What a life!".. The End
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