Lauren's Capertiller
Lauren is Lilet's 7 year old girl wonder. She is eloquent, sweet, thoughtful and is the perfect mix of her parents' genes.
They drove to my uncle's house in Ahwatuhkee area of Phoenix to get me on Friday night. She jumped out of the truck and hugged me just like her mom, as though we have not seen each other for 20 years. She was almost immediately comfortable with me, even helping me strap my seatbelts when we got in her dad's truck. I callled her the 'seatbelt police'.
On the way to Sedona we told each other stories. She told me about her friend McKenzie who was not really her playmate but her REAL playmate's younger sister. She told me about school and about the trampoline at home. Somehow, without much effort she had me in no time promising to spend some time with her bouncing on the trampoline.
When her dad brought her back her 'capertiller' in a cup, she was very grateful and unlike some other kids her age who need to be prodded for a 'thank you', with her it was automatic and very generous. And so the rest of the ride and the rest of the morning, it was about the capertiller which had no name.
When she tried to hand me the cup I freaked out and told her I hated anything that had more than two legs and anything that crawled. "Do you like babies then?" she asked.
"Well babies aren't crawly things like that ew...capertiller. Of course I love babies!"
And then she explained to me that the capertiller was going to be a beautiful butterfly anyway and went on to educate me about metamorphosis. She was such a darling. And when she took an accidental sniff of the cup's contents and complained that her 'pet' was smelly, that totally grossed me out.
Of course, always trying to be helpful, I suggested to her that we should bring the capertiller to the tub when we got home and wash it with lots of suds. She was outraged, "he's going to drown!" but I shrugged my shoulders and noted that it would then be a fresh smelling capertiller. Maybe i should have also suggested we put it under the blow dryer :-).
When she wanted to take a picture of her pet I handed her the camera and told her to have fun with it as I wasn't taking any pictures of anything called 'higad' back home. Even the name alone sent chills up my spine and made the hair on my arms stand.
I asked what name she had given the creepy crawly. She was still undecided. Sedona? McKenzie?
I learned later on that when we returned to Phoenix, while I was at Thereza's wedding, Lauren agreed to put the unnamed capertiller outside in the backyard. She had put it on the lime tree and I hoped no black bird would make it his dinner. Then little Lauren would be able to witness metamorphosis as how she had described it to me from the changes in the life of an un-named caterpillar she called capertiller.
They drove to my uncle's house in Ahwatuhkee area of Phoenix to get me on Friday night. She jumped out of the truck and hugged me just like her mom, as though we have not seen each other for 20 years. She was almost immediately comfortable with me, even helping me strap my seatbelts when we got in her dad's truck. I callled her the 'seatbelt police'.
On the way to Sedona we told each other stories. She told me about her friend McKenzie who was not really her playmate but her REAL playmate's younger sister. She told me about school and about the trampoline at home. Somehow, without much effort she had me in no time promising to spend some time with her bouncing on the trampoline.
When her dad brought her back her 'capertiller' in a cup, she was very grateful and unlike some other kids her age who need to be prodded for a 'thank you', with her it was automatic and very generous. And so the rest of the ride and the rest of the morning, it was about the capertiller which had no name.
When she tried to hand me the cup I freaked out and told her I hated anything that had more than two legs and anything that crawled. "Do you like babies then?" she asked.
"Well babies aren't crawly things like that ew...capertiller. Of course I love babies!"
And then she explained to me that the capertiller was going to be a beautiful butterfly anyway and went on to educate me about metamorphosis. She was such a darling. And when she took an accidental sniff of the cup's contents and complained that her 'pet' was smelly, that totally grossed me out.
Of course, always trying to be helpful, I suggested to her that we should bring the capertiller to the tub when we got home and wash it with lots of suds. She was outraged, "he's going to drown!" but I shrugged my shoulders and noted that it would then be a fresh smelling capertiller. Maybe i should have also suggested we put it under the blow dryer :-).
When she wanted to take a picture of her pet I handed her the camera and told her to have fun with it as I wasn't taking any pictures of anything called 'higad' back home. Even the name alone sent chills up my spine and made the hair on my arms stand.
I asked what name she had given the creepy crawly. She was still undecided. Sedona? McKenzie?
I learned later on that when we returned to Phoenix, while I was at Thereza's wedding, Lauren agreed to put the unnamed capertiller outside in the backyard. She had put it on the lime tree and I hoped no black bird would make it his dinner. Then little Lauren would be able to witness metamorphosis as how she had described it to me from the changes in the life of an un-named caterpillar she called capertiller.