The Caterpillar King Read Free

Ditch

 
    3.
     
    I spent the last twenty-one days at the
bottom of a ditch. The hole was too deep to climb out of, but I
didn’t mind. It was by far the nicest ditch I’d ever been in, and I
decided to enjoy it. There was the smooth brown wall all around me.
There were four sticks and six pebbles, which could be pretty
entertaining. One of the pebbles was even shaped like a heart. I
also had two great friends to keep me company. Their names were
Tika the caterpillar and Old Guy. Tika the caterpillar talked. Old
Guy didn’t.
    Tika was about two inches long and had pure
white skin. I think she was self-conscious about her skin, because
she’d never seen a caterpillar that looked quite like her before.
It seemed to bother her a lot.
    “What if I spent more time in the sun?” she
asked me.
    “You’d probably burn,” I said. “And then
you’d turn pink. But aren’t pink caterpillars just as rare as white
ones?”
    “You really want me to be unhappy, don’t
you?” she said. Then she slid over to the other side of the ditch,
by the two holes. One of the holes was large, and the other one was
just her size. Once in a while, when she got really angry, she’d
crawl back underground. But that didn’t happen very often. For the
most part Tika was sweet and friendly, and we got along well.
    However, there were times when Tika got a
little too friendly. Some mornings, I’d wake up and find her
curled in my lap.
    “What?” she’d say, all innocently. “I was
cold.”
    Other times, when we were playing sticks and
rocks, she’d nudge the heart-shaped stone over to me. “This is for
you,” she’d say. Whenever she did something like this, Old Guy just
sat there with a big grin on his face. He probably thought it was
funny.
    A little flirting never killed anyone,
though. I was more concerned with Tika’s other desire. For
as long as I’ve been here, she’s been begging me for just one
thing: to go underground with her. She wanted me to slide down the
big hole, while she went down the small one. But to me, that didn’t
seem like such a great idea. After all, I didn’t have the slightest
idea where the holes led. If I went underground, who knew if I’d
ever come back up?
    Now, I looked to the other side of the
ditch, to see what Tika was up to. Once she caught my gaze, she
started to crawl back over. She could never stay mad at me for
long.
    She snuggled in right next to me. “Finch,”
she said, “Tell me a story.”
    “You’re really going to keep calling me
that?”
    She smiled. “It is the perfect name for you.
You have a small head like a finch. And dark eyes. And a big nose.
Also, you are beautiful and kind of delicate, too.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “I guess.”
    Tika looked up at me. “I know you must feel
empty,” she said. “So you should tell me about the things you do
remember. Tell me about…your dream woman.”
    The “dream woman” happened to be in my one
and only memory. I’d already told the story a thousand times, but
it was Tika’s favorite. “Well, I remember a woman-”
    “No, no,” said Tika. “A true story must
begin with, ‘Once upon a time.’”
    “OK, fine,” I said. “Once upon a time, there
was a woman in a room. Everything in the room was black and white.
The woman sat in a rocking chair, and I remember she had the most
wrinkled hands I’d ever seen. She was holding needles and thread,
and it looked like she was sewing something. But no matter how hard
I tried, I could never get a look at the woman’s face.”
    “And why not?” asked Tika, even though she
already knew the answer.
    “Because I focused on the necklace she was
wearing. It was a string with a circular pendant attached. The
pendant had three lines on it, kind of like an upside-down peace
sign.”
    “Draw this for me,” Tika said.
    Using my finger, I scratched the circle into
the dirt.
    “Ahhh,” said Tika. “Yes, I would like a
necklace like this some day.”
    “And that’s it. That’s