Instincts by Ron Dye

Instincts by Ron Dye (500)

Catherine, like all caterpillars spent most of the day eating, but one day something distracted her. A dew drop landed on the opposite end of the leaf. She went to it as usual to drink. Just as she was about to tap the drop and consume it, as she had done countless times before, Catherine noticed something she had never seen; her own reflection in the water droplet. "Hello," she said expecting a response at first. She didn't want to lose this droplet. She wasn't particularly thirsty; in fact she was never thirsty. Caterpillars don't wait to be thirsty or hungry, they drink when the opportunity arises and eat the rest of the time; simple! But today Catherine had seen herself and she didn't drink. She looked around and for the first time in her long life, I mean all six days, she saw more than just a vast array of food. She noticed things. She saw the delicate pattern of veins in the leaf she was standing on, she saw the light hitting a footprint and noticed how the mountainous lip far across the other side glinted in the sun's rays.

"Are you going to drink that?" said Cayce.

"No Cayce," said Catherine. "But don't drink it please."

"What did you say? I don't understand," said the elder caterpillar.

"I'm not drinking this water but I want it," said Catherine.

"What do you want it for," said Cayce. "There's only one thing to do with a drop of water."

"I want to look into it," she replied. This caused a fuss all around the vine. Word soon spared that Catherine Caterpillar was sick, or something worse. By the next day Catherine not only took time off of drinking to look around, but she also started missing meals to explore. Her parents were worried.

  "Catherine dear," said her mother. "We've noticed that you're not putting on a few grams and you're almost the same dress size now, as you were this morning."

"Are you okay?" said Catherine's father.

"I'm fine; I've just been a little preoccupied lately."

"You need to get ready for your big day dear," said her mother.

Catherine knew well what that meant. All her life she had been told about the day when she would be hold up in a cocoon. The idea of wrapping herself in a confined space with no way to eat or move didn't appeal to her. Later she met a friend on the trail and explained how she felt. "What do you think I should do Atom?" said the caterpillar.

"You know a lot of my relatives, right Cath?" said Atom.

"More than I can count," she said.

"Have you ever seen one of us not marching?" he said. "I march because that is what we do."

She felt alone with no choices. Catherine finally gave in. She stopped doing everything but eating and then entered her cocoon.

Now, Catherine loves exploring from the air; she sees more than ever.