Sally and Gran were checking the tomato plants in her garden for ripe ones to pick. Sally had on the apron with pockets that Gran made her.
"Here's one, Gran. Can I pick it?"
"OOO, yes. That looks like a good one."
Sally picked the ripe tomato and put it in her pocket. Then she squatted down for a look at something. "Gran, look! What is this?
Gran bent down to see. "Why that's a ladybug. Isn't she pretty?"
Yes! Can I touch her?"
"Put your finger gently on the leaf next to her and see if she'll crawl up on it. Then be real still so she doesn't fly away."
Sally did just that and sure enough, the little lady bug walked right up onto the tip of her finger.
"She tickles", Sally said, smiling.
"Yes, she's got six little legs to tickle you with. And look, she's got 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 spots!"
"Wow," said Sally. "Why is she red?"
"Well, sometimes red means STOP, you know like a stop sign is red?"
"Why does a ladybug say stop?"
She's saying "stop!" to birds and other things that want to eat her. Her red color says, "Don't eat me. I taste terrible."
"That's pretty smart," Sally said, watching the little bug walk all around her hand. She put a finger from her other hand next to it to see if it would crawl on that finger but the ladybug flew off. "Oh, she's gone. I'm gong to find another one."
Sally and Gran walked a little farther and Sally said, "Look Gran, a worm!"
Gran said, "That's a caterpillar." She picked up a stick from the ground and put it in front of the caterpillar and it crawled up on the stick. "Here, you hold the stick."
Sally took the end of the stick. "Caterpillars aren't pretty like ladybugs."
"That's true, and they eat my tomato plants, so I'm not fond of that, BUT, do you know what caterpillars turn into?"
Sally's eyes got big. "You mean like magic?"
Gran laughed. "Well, it is pretty magical, all right. Caterpillars build a cocoon around themselves and time goes by, and one day, guess what happens?"
"A fairy comes and zaps him into something else?" Sally said, excitedly.
Gran chuckled, No, there's something called metamorphosis that happens and one day, the cocoon opens up and...
Sally's eyes are huge. "And what?"
"And a beautiful butterfly comes out, opens its colorful wings, and flutters away to sip nectar from the flowers."
Sally looked back at the caterpillar. "Just like the frog that turned into a prince in my book!"
"Except better," Gran said. "Because this is real, and frogs only turn into princes in fairy tales."
Sally put the stick down on the ground. "I'm glad he's gonna look better when he grows up."
Gran hugged her. "Well, you come back in two weeks and I'll bet you see him."
"Can I?"
"You betcha. And maybe he'll light on your finger, too."