Montana Jones

Caterpillar

I instinctively stepped toward the side of the road when the truck rounded the corner but she did not. I looked at her and she was calmly standing in the road staring down the oncoming vehicle. I watched as the driver just as calmly drifted his truck aside and missed us all by a good margin. She was pretty serious about protecting small and helpless things. She didn't even flinch.

I had been watching the caterpillar for a while now. About an inch long, fuzzy, orange in the middle and black on both ends with white spiky hairs sticking out. It was squirming it's way onto the asphalt. I was distracted as it crawled into the first lane of traffic, but when I looked for it again after a couple of cars had passed it had luckily survived all the way to the double yellow line. I pointed it out to her and how lucky it had been getting halfway across. She walked out into the road and admired its white spikes and fuzzy stripes. "I've been known to help helpless little things out." She said. She stationed herself in the middle of the far lane and stood vigil over the little bug.

The first vehicle made me flinch, but not her. The caterpillar continued its slow crawl. I stood with her more resolutely as the second vehicle dodged us. By the time the third vehicle swerved around us the little bugger had pretty much cleared the road.

"There you go little guy, now go do great things." She said. I was just glad to get out of traffic.

Labels: bug, caterpillar, flinch, good deed, protect, road, vehicle

Posted by: Montana Jones / 6:38 PM