Jan 27 2007
The Freakin’ Big Caterpillar
Day One of 2007 and all was quiet in Laverne and Shirley’s Western Cape neighborhood.
Even the usual voluble Ms. Q was quiet. She and Shirley had spent New Year’s Eve doing research long past the Midnight hour. Shirley is a psychologist. If anyone knows how to do research, it’s her.
We were out in the backyard, enjoying the sunshine and smelling woodsmoke from the braai when we heard Laverne call out from the front.
If you recall, neither Laverne nor Shirley squeal. Although squealing would have been perfectly understandable in these circumstances.
We head to the front yard where Laverne is looking at something on the ground.
“Check that out!” she says, pointing at the ground with a stick.
I’m closest to the ground and see it first. The others bend lower.
We all had the same thought: That Is Freaky Shit.
What we saw was a Freakin’ Big Caterpillar.
It was pale green with yellow chevrons on its back. The chevrons were surrounded by delicate blue shadings and interspersed with blue spots.
We peered closer.
More Freaky Shit: it had a horn. It took us a beat or so to figure that the horn was at the back end.
Laverne gently poked it with her stick.
If everyone else hadn’t been so amazed at seeing the Freakin’ Big Caterpillar, I would have thought that it was an everyday sight in this Western Cape neighborhood.
Someone wondered if it would turn into a butterfly. I thought if it did, it’d be the size of Mothra. I had a brief vision of myself as one of the tiny priestesses that communicate with the giant Japanese moth but knew I wasn’t priestess material. What with being Chinese and all.
I ran inside to get my camera and Laverne put her finger on the ground next to the Freakin’ Big Caterpillar for a size comparison.
I put my foot next to it. It felt safer.
Don’t worry, the Freakin’ Big Caterpillar did not go to the Big Tomato Plant in the sky, at least not by our hands. Laverne put it back under the bushes.
I should probably check if she still has a front yard.
Note: I did a bit of Googling and think this is some type of Sphinx Caterpillar.