Chasing Caterpillars
Her brown sneakers, once white, pound against the uneven sidewalks. She looks down rows of twin houses. Kyle and his brother, Brendan, race toward her. A door opens behind her. Sarah leaps off of her porch. Brendan beats Kyle, as usual. They pant, wearing the outfits they wore yesterday. Their family is moving, and most of their clothes wait in boxes. She doesn’t understand why they want to leave this place. As the summer sky fades, more kids join them. It’s just before dinner time. They still have their freedom. She lifts herself onto the tips of her toes. Her heavy step now nearly mute, as they approach the house on the corner.
She wonders about the house on the corner. They all do. She lives on the intersection of daylight and possibilities, the center of the commotion. But this house stands in the shade, on a small hill. It sits higher than her house, but not as high as her imagination. She once whispered to her neighbors that the owners were Russian spies. The next week they were kidnappers, and the following they were witches. She’s unsure what they’re up against today, but she knows it isn’t pretty. The doors of the mysterious house never open. The owners never joined the weekly gatherings around the firepit, nor the late night games of army dodgeball. But the house holds something special. Something that brings them here each evening. The house on the corner, has caterpillars.
Caterpillars- the fuzzy black ones that infest her neighborhood each year- crawl on the surrounding trees. Parents won’t let them keep their discovered creatures for long. But in those couple of days, they wear their clear plastic cases like purses. Who caught the best one? When she discovered the house on the corner, she declared that it held the premium caterpillars. She smiles at Kyle and Brendan, her two best friends of the caterpillar army. Today her mission is to catch the fastest one out there. And she knows where to find it.
Grass stains her elbows and knees as they crawl up the hill. Sarah picks the first caterpillar she sees. She didn’t know why Sarah always did that. She usually reminds Sarah that the first one stinks, but today she focuses in on her mission. As the kids scatter, trying not to make a sound, she makes her way to the fence that encloses the backyard. They never dare to go back there. It’s too close to the big windows. But she reaches her arm over the fence, and unlatches the lock.
The door creaks and heads turn. Sarah motions her to come back. Kyle holds a thumbs up. She crawls through the yard until she reaches cover behind a tree, opposite a house window. She peers around. Coast is clear, the eagle has landed, the General is safe. She notices a caterpillar move up the branch at incredible speed. She snatches it, opens her hand, and basks in her victory for a moment. But on her way out of enemy territory, she feels something- strange eyes watching her escape.
She returns to base and to friendly eyes, which gleam at her with excitement. She places Speedy in his new home. She wipes the caterpillar pee off of her hand, then holds him up for everyone to see. Then it happens. The house doors open. But there is no counter-attack. Rather, they are greeted with lollipops and a warm hello.
On the trek home, she watches her friend’s sticky mouths move a mile a minute. Talking about the adventure they had. The secret identity of the owners was finally revealed. But there’s a truth behind her post-sugar smile. A sadness. She wonders if they feel it too. That a piece of magic is gone. All of their neighbors are the same. All of the caterpillars are the same. And soon their neighbors would move in and out of their homes the same way the caterpillars moved in and out of those plastic cases. Soon they would chase intangible accomplishments, never satisfied with their current status. But for now she’ll chase caterpillars. And she just caught the fastest one.