The Spider and the Butterfly

Chapter Twelve

Sage wandered off into the grass, leaving the spider and the butterfly alone together. After a moment's silence, Daisy asked, "Do you think Dot will be okay?"

Fang tried to give her a reassuring smile. "Of course she will," he replied. "Dot's a tough little bug. She'll snap out of it, and everything will go back to normal again."

The butterfly sighed, sitting on the ground. "I don't know what 'normal' is anymore. Especially after everything Mist told me. About how much he hates humans. I guess what I'm really asking is: will any of us be okay, Fang?"

He didn't answer right away. He looked at Daisy with such an expression of softness that she felt a blush rising to her cheeks. Sitting next to her, Fang finally spoke:

"I might be a wise spider for both my age and my gender, but I don't know everything. I certainly never could've predicted all that has happened, or being given the role of 'butterfly caretaker' or 'guardian of the insects'. But you know something? I'm not gonna let that get me down. My personal attitude toward humans aside, I'm at least 75% sure that everything will be okay in the end. And that's a good percentage."

Daisy laughed and looked at him. "What do you mean? What do you think of humans?"

Fang stared up at the clouds. "The way I see it, not every human is a saint. Heck, a lot of them are actually pretty terrible. I'm not saying that Mist is right about trying to kill them and all, because that's just crazy. But not every human you meet will think you're a cute little bug, understand?"

He turned to look at her. "I should know. Most of the ones I've met tried to kill me without a second thought. I've dodged enough shoes and rocks and bricks to last me a lifetime, Daisy. All because of the way I look. Like I can help that."

Daisy nuzzled up to his side. "Not all of them are like that, Fang. Sure, there's bad people. But...that means there has to be good people too, right? Like the nice old lady who picked me up and put me on her rose bushes outside."

Fang smiled. "You're right. I'm just not sure she'd pick me up and put me outside, though. What if she, I don't know, tries to slap me?"

"Then for the love of everything, don't bite her," the butterfly responded.

"I'll try not to."

They both giggled.

With a soft sigh, Fang looked back at Daisy. "So, what now?"

"What do you mean?"

The spider said, "I mean...after Dot gets better, are you going to take off right away, or stick around for a little while?"

Daisy hugged Fang, noting with muse that his heart rate picked up a tad. I hope that heart beats for a long, long time...she thought. "I'm staying for as long as possible...or before it gets too cold for me to fly south."

She looked up at the spider. "I've made so many friends here, I almost don't want to leave." Fang seemed sad as he replied, "But you must. If anything bad ever happened to you, I'd...I'd..." He turned away. "I've said too much. I'm sorry." Daisy hugged him tighter. "I'd be upset if anything happened to you too, Fang. So stay safe for me until I can get back, alright?"

Fang stared down at her playfully. "You really ask a lot from me, you know that?"

Daisy chuckled, "Yeah. It's a bad habit."