It was another beautiful day in the field. Wildflowers looked up toward the sun as day turned into night. The warm glow glistened through the trees in shades of orange and yellow. The wind blew gently. The crickets chirped. Nelle and Franny crept along and were quite full. They were caterpillars. Each day at sunrise, they crawled along the branches to eat leaves. At sunset they crawled home to sleep.
One morning as they inched along, Franny said to Nelle, “Some day we’ll turn into butterflies.”
“What do you mean?” Nelle stopped so quickly her body gathered into a high upside-down U.
“We grow until it’s time to change,” Franny told her as she started to munch on a leaf.
"Do I really have to change?" Nelle asked.
"You must. That's what caterpillars do," said Franny.
"Why?" asked Nelle.
"Because you can. Wouldn't you like to be a beautiful butterfly someday?"
“I want to stay the way I am,” Nelle insisted with a bounce of her antennae.
Franny huffed and crept along.
As the days moved on, Nelle and the other caterpillars developed into big caterpillars.
One afternoon she watched as Franny inched to a J in the branch. Franny then wound a thin gray string from within herself around the J several times. While she gradually draped herself below the J, she continued to weave the string.
Suddenly Nelle noticed Franny was hanging from the branch. The gray string, curling thicker around Franny, kept her from falling.
“What are you doing, Franny?” Nelle yelled.
Franny was too busy to answer.
“You’re changing,” Nelle moaned. “But I don’t want to change into some strange creature, especially a flitty little butterfly.”
“I will find you again,” Franny called to Nelle. She waved a little leg before she was totally wound inside the gray mass......
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