The Little Guy Next Door

THE LITTLE GUY NEXT DOOR

Back when I lived in an apartment near Oak Park there were several families in the fourplex. We didn't have much of a yard for the kids that lived there to play in, but there was a vacant lot next to the end where I lived. Of course you know me, I had my garden there. I just can't do without my fresh veggies. Most of the plants there were milkweeds, with their purple little blooms continuously blooming all spring and summer. The butterflies, of course, used the milkweed as their only food source during their migration to their wintering grounds. I had a few lingering tomato, eggplant, okra and squash and was out one evening tending them.

The little guy must have been about four. His mother worked from early
morning ‘til dark and the neighborhood ladies kind of watched him during the day. She caught the bus before daylight every morning and was home after I had had supper every evening. The ladies would see he had lunch, supper and a nap during the day.

Seems as though his real curiosity was my garden. He would watch me
water, tend the plants, and pull weeds. I would give him warm, fresh-picked tomatoes and a salt shaker sometimes and always shared with the other neighbors because they would water and pick when I had to work overtime several days in a row.

One day I noticed he had something in his hand. It was a butterfly and he had broken a wing off of it. The butterfly was walking around fluttering on the ground as I walked over. I told him that the butterfly had no way to get around and eat because he was injured and couldn't fly anymore and would surely die. This made the little guy terribly sad and he started to cry. He told me that he would do anything to make it up to the butterfly and if I knew anyway to help -- maybe even take him to the doctor.

I told him that we could maybe do something for him, but he would have to promise never to harm them again because they may be little angels that were practicing to go to heaven someday. This really got him upset so I told him that I knew a few things about butterflies and if he would promise to help me I would see if we could make it up to him. I made a screen cage and we placed it over a tomato plant and put the butterfly on the leaves. I cut some milkweed and we wove it in with the tomato plant. The butterfly crawled around in there eating from the milkweed flowers. He helped with this chore for several weeks and even enlisted the neighbor ladies to help him put fresh flowers in the cage for him when I had to work late or was gone for a few days. The little guy really had the ladies into saving the butterfly, telling them the angel story and all.

Then one day I came home and everyone was in tears. I mean it looked like everyone had lost their mothers or something. The butterfly had died. I went to the cage and took it off. Looking around I found the eggs under one of the tomato leaves and showed them what the butterfly had left. I told them it was his gift for the kindness that they had shown him. They didn't really understand, but I told them to wait and see what happened -- maybe a miracle, but we had to wait and see.

Well I began to water that plant and built a shade over it so it would keep going through the heat, all the time telling the little guy that we had to keep working to pay the butterfly back for his injuries. He accepted the work with diligence and kept a close watch on those eggs. One afternoon he came running up to me telling me that there were worms eating the tomato plant. I went and looked. Sure enough, the eggs had hatched. We watered that plant and really kept it going and, then one day, I noticed that there were eight little chrysalises hanging on one limb. I told him that they were the children of the butterfly and we needed to hang them under an eave of the house for the winter so they could grow and be strong for the coming season next year.

That little guy watched that screened container hanging there all winter. He checked it every time he thought about it and would report to me every time he saw me. Spring came and I came home one afternoon and found him and all the
ladies all looking at the screen cage. There were eight of the most beautiful butterflies you ever saw. They were still drying their wings. He kept saying, "The angels gave us eight for taking care of him.” He ran, telling all the neighbors on the block, screaming it to all the houses until the whole neighborhood was there watching the butterflies. We all visited for awhile, then I took the screen down, opened it up and they singly flew out, circled around a bit and went to the garden area and began dancing about the milkweed flowers.

I didn't realize it then, but it was Easter weekend and they heard the whole story about the butterfly from the little guy and the neighbor ladies. One was the pastor at the church around the corner. Sunday morning as I sat there with the little guy, his mom and the other neighbors nearby in the pews we heard the pastor tell the story about the butterfly and how more angels came to replace the dead one and rejuvenate the life in the garden because there was someone who cared.

Reflections by Mark Crider
©1998

Story ID:	3572
Written by:	Mark Crider (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Corpus Christi Coating & Machine Inc.
Location:	Corpus Christi Texas U.S.A.
Year:	1964