I don't quite recall how old I was, but because of where it happened, I must have been no older than nine. My best friend of the day, Joe H., had spent most of the day playing over at my house. It rained most of the day, but once it stopped, we ran outside to play. My oldest sister was outside too, and she screams. We both run around to the front of the house by the curb to see what was up. She had found a big honkin' caterpillar, similar to this guy. We all squatted down to take a closer look, but none of us wanted to pick it up. It was strangely beautiful, and I think it was probably the first one any of us had seen outside of the mason jars at school where we tried to get them to turn into butterflies (they usually died before that point).S1 was squatted down at the butt end (or face end--who can tell?), and Joe was at the opposite end. I was looking at it from the side. I don't recall if someone said something, or if I heard voices, or if I saw it sprouting long tentacles or what, but without warning, I stood up, and I stepped on it. Hard. And who's waiting on both ends? S1 and Joe. Caterpillar guts shoot out of both ends. Yellowish-clear orange gunk. All three of us are in tears, but only one of us is laughing. S1 immediately runs inside screaming for Mom. Joe looks at me in disbelief, and runs the six blocks home before the guts dry on him. I'm left alone, laughing with the remains. A flat, green, deflated balloon of a creature. No butterflies coming out of this one, I'm afraid. I sort of kick it into the street. And then I hear the high-pitched scream of my mother. I don't believe I sat the same for a week...
Ever walk into a situation where you can eavesdrop on a brief conversation, and find out that you are the subject of conversation? Happened to me this weekend. While I'm secure in knowing that they didn't know I was there, and that what was being said about me certainly didn't hold any water, it still found itself in my head. I hate it when that happens...
I hadn't realized how much more detail you can get from Google Earth than with Google maps. That was made crystal clear to me this weekend. Time to install Google Earth on my laptop!
Lots of activity happening in the land of Os over the next couple of weeks. No details for now, but I'll be sure to bring you along for the ride!
Still looking for Dirty. Anyone know anything??
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