One fall day I was playing hide and seek with my friend Pam.

As I was counting, Pam ran over to me and opened her hand.

“Look,” Pam said with excitement. “I found a green caterpillar.”

“Wow, can I hold it?” I asked. She gave the caterpillar to me to hold. “It is so pretty.” “You can have it,” Pam said. I thanked her.

I took the caterpillar home. My mom was cooking dinner. “What do you have in
your hand?” my Mom asked.

I opened my hand. “It’s a caterpillar and I’m going to keep it.”

“If you want to keep it, you need to put it in something.” My mom found an
empty jar and put tinfoil over the top. She took a fork and put holes in the tinfoil, then put the caterpillar inside the jar.

“Now you have a home for your caterpillar. But we need to give it food. What do Caterpillars like to eat?” my Mom asked me.

“We learned in school that caterpillars like to eat leaves from the trees.”

“Very good,” my Mom said.

Right away I went outside to my backyard and found some leaves on the ground. I also found a small branch.

I put all these things in the jar with the caterpillar. “Now you have a real home,” I said to the caterpillar. “I’m going to call you Melon because, you look green like a melon.

Every morning I would say hello to Melon on my way to school.

When I came home I watched Melon eat and eat leaves.

One day when I came home, I saw a shriveled -up caterpillar on the branch. I cried to my mom, “Something is wrong with my caterpillar. I think it died.”

My mom looked at the bottom of the jar and saw what looked like a dark green sack.

“Look! I think Melon has come out of his skin and formed into a pupa,” my Mom said.

“What is a pupa?” I asked.

“Melon is inside the sack going through changes,” Mom said. “One day he will come out as a big, beautiful butterfly.

I dried my eyes with my hand and said, “Hi Melon.” Melon wiggled and squiggled at the sound of my voice. “It’s Melon,” I said with excitement.

“Melon doesn’t need to be in this jar anymore,” Mom said

“What can we put Melon in?” I asked.

”Here, I have this nice coffee can.” My mom put a piece of folded Kleenex into the coffee can, gently lifted Melon onto a plastic spoon, and placed Melon into the jar.

Every day, I waved to Melon in the coffee can. “Hi Melon.”

One morning, I waved to Melon and Melon waved back with his big black shiny wings. I called to my mom. “Mom come look!”

My mom came into the kitchen and looked at Melon.

She told me, “He’s drying his wings. He won’t fly away until later.”

I went to school. I kept wondering if Melon had flown out of the can and was flying all over the house.

When I returned home, I picked Melon up out of the coffee can and let Melon walk on my finger. I took him outside and shook my finger. I said, “Bye Melon.” I cried as Melon flew away. I knew he had to leave and fly south for the winter.

The next morning I went on my way to school. As soon as I went outside, Melon returned and landed on my shoulder. Surprised, I put Melon on my finger, then watched Melon fly away.

Melon kept returning for a week. I was happy to see him but worried he wouldn’t go south for the winter.

My Mom told me, “Next time Melon returns, put Melon on your finger. Tell him it’s time to fly south.”

After school, Melon returned to me. I put Melon on my finger. “Time to fly south , and Melon flew away. Although Melon never came back, I was happy he’d flown away to be with other butterflies.

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