Caterpillar Rebellion

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Sarah. Sarah was nine years old already, and in the third grade.

Oh, but Sarah was a weird kid. She read all the time and never seemed to know what was on TV. However, she knew a lot of big words, so the rest of the kids left her alone.

She had one friend, a short fourth grader from next door named Valerie. Every recess they would prowl around looking for bugs and building shelters and bridges out of sticks. They said that the stick houses and bridges were for bugs.

One caterpillary spring day, as Sarah and Valerie were watching a grasshopper’s progress across the mulch, Sarah heard,
“Ooh, look at it crawl.”
“It’s so fat, and it wiggles.”
“It’s nasty.” Then, a muffled thud.
“They squished it!” Valerie gasped. Sarah said nothing, but already she was marching to the flock of girls peering at a squashed caterpillar and giggling.

“You stop that! Those caterpillars are innocent!” she commanded. Maura, one of the more popular girls, stuck out her tongue.
“You aren’t the boss of me. Hey girls, let’s see how many we can squish!” And all the other girls followed Maura away, searching for more buggy victims.

“Come on, we have to get the caterpillars up the trees!” Sarah gasped. Valerie nodded and ran behind her friend, scooping up the fat green caterpillars that crawled slowly over the playground. As soon as one was captured, they would carefully place it on a tree, waiting until the caterpillar had gripped the bark before letting go. Maura only got to squish one or two.

The next day, Ben and Andy trailed over and helped them silently, using sticks from old stick houses. And the day after that, Irene and her twin Eileen joined the foursome, coming to gawk and staying to help. Day by day, the group gathered strength until Maura sullenly agreed to stop stomping caterpillars.

“Victory for the Caterpillar Rebellion!” Sarah cried delightedly. Although she wasn’t immensely popular, she wasn’t looked down upon anymore. “Victory!”

****I seem to have a liking for caterpillars****