My sugar induced spawn...
This is what happens when random insanity (or a conversation with my mom) mates with frozen sugar in a waffel cone:
Carl the Reluctant Caterpillar
Carl is a happy caterpillar. He loves sunning himself on the leaves in his tree, where food is abundant; whenever he finishes up one leaf, there's another one right next door! His brothers and sisters all sleep next to him at night, and he's very cozy.
Then one day, he becomes very sick, and the caterpillar elders tell him that his body is changing and he must cocoon himself. He goes into a cocoon, which is dark and cramped, and horrible things happen to his body. When he emerges, he is a butterfly!
And he hates it.
Now he has to fly around in the air, which is very scary, and now that he's got all of these bright colors he's continually attracting the attention of dangerous birds who want to eat him. Instead of just walking an inch or so over to another leaf, he now has to flutter madly from flower to flower in an attempt to find enough nectar to eat for the day… and Carl hates nectar. It tastes sticky-sweet, not like the comforting salad taste of leaves.
Then a bird eats him.
Ha ha! Just kidding. Seriously, in the end, Carl finds a beautiful girl butterfly who awakens strange desires in him. He's never felt this way about the other caterpillars, but the girl butterfly is so wonderful that now he's okay with being a butterfly.
A week later, after having mated, he dies, as do all butterflies. This is the way of life.
THE END
You know, leaving aside that last sentence, I think I could actually sell this. It's not a bad metaphor for kids who hate change of any kind. Any illustrators out there feel like trying to write a book with me on spec? (I'm actually serious here; y'can't sell a young kids' book without an artist these days.)
Carl the Reluctant Caterpillar
Carl is a happy caterpillar. He loves sunning himself on the leaves in his tree, where food is abundant; whenever he finishes up one leaf, there's another one right next door! His brothers and sisters all sleep next to him at night, and he's very cozy.
Then one day, he becomes very sick, and the caterpillar elders tell him that his body is changing and he must cocoon himself. He goes into a cocoon, which is dark and cramped, and horrible things happen to his body. When he emerges, he is a butterfly!
And he hates it.
Now he has to fly around in the air, which is very scary, and now that he's got all of these bright colors he's continually attracting the attention of dangerous birds who want to eat him. Instead of just walking an inch or so over to another leaf, he now has to flutter madly from flower to flower in an attempt to find enough nectar to eat for the day… and Carl hates nectar. It tastes sticky-sweet, not like the comforting salad taste of leaves.
Then a bird eats him.
Ha ha! Just kidding. Seriously, in the end, Carl finds a beautiful girl butterfly who awakens strange desires in him. He's never felt this way about the other caterpillars, but the girl butterfly is so wonderful that now he's okay with being a butterfly.
A week later, after having mated, he dies, as do all butterflies. This is the way of life.
THE END
You know, leaving aside that last sentence, I think I could actually sell this. It's not a bad metaphor for kids who hate change of any kind. Any illustrators out there feel like trying to write a book with me on spec? (I'm actually serious here; y'can't sell a young kids' book without an artist these days.)