My Close Encounters with Caterpillars
March 6th 2008 21:00
What freaks me out about caterpillars is how you can’t feel them on you. I remember my friends and I used to have lunch every day underneath this big tree at the front of our school. The tree was a haven for black caterpillars. On this particular day, one had worked its way up my leg before I noticed it. I jumped up, screaming like one of those housewives you see on TV who have encountered a mouse. What freaked me out was the ugliness and the indistinguishable way it had worked its way on my body. I could have been lying there completely covered in caterpillars and not noticed…
Another time I was sitting near a wall when a caterpillar crawled on the back of my shirt. Again, I was unaware of its progress; it took a school friend to tell me. I looked and started to panic. I asked my friend Sharon to get it off me but it turned out she was also a caterpillar phobic so she gave me a wide berth. Finally, one of Sharon’s friends grabbed a stick and brushed it off me.
Then there was the time I came home and found a looper on my trousers. I shook it off my pants and quickly squashed it. The last (touch wood) encounter I had was when I was putting some bottles in the recycling bin. Unfortunately, the recycling bin was placed right under a tree so what landed on my shirt? A green caterpillar of course!
But it could have been worse. My friend Andrea says she often finds caterpillars in her house. She has no idea how they get there. She has overcome her caterpillar phobia enough to get them to crawl onto a piece of paper and then letting them back outside. I asked her why she simply doesn’t just squish them but she says the very thought of caterpillar guts give her the willies.
Another time I was sitting near a wall when a caterpillar crawled on the back of my shirt. Again, I was unaware of its progress; it took a school friend to tell me. I looked and started to panic. I asked my friend Sharon to get it off me but it turned out she was also a caterpillar phobic so she gave me a wide berth. Finally, one of Sharon’s friends grabbed a stick and brushed it off me.
Then there was the time I came home and found a looper on my trousers. I shook it off my pants and quickly squashed it. The last (touch wood) encounter I had was when I was putting some bottles in the recycling bin. Unfortunately, the recycling bin was placed right under a tree so what landed on my shirt? A green caterpillar of course!
But it could have been worse. My friend Andrea says she often finds caterpillars in her house. She has no idea how they get there. She has overcome her caterpillar phobia enough to get them to crawl onto a piece of paper and then letting them back outside. I asked her why she simply doesn’t just squish them but she says the very thought of caterpillar guts give her the willies.
Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. This image comes from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885-90). The copyrights have expired and this image is in the public domain.
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