An Unhappy Almost Fairy Tale

Clara was one unhappy moth.

Ever since she changed from caterpillar to moth, she was jealous of the butterfly. Butterflies flitted through the air like tiny flying ballerinas while Clara clodded around bumping into things like a bumbling clown.

Butterflies were beautiful and flamboyant, like Tinkerbelle with technicolored wings. Moths, on the other hand, looked like David Bowie as the Goblin King in the movie Labyrinth.

It wasn't fair! When that duckling was ugly in that story, she turned out to be a beautiful swan, but that wasn't happening to Clara. Maybe she needed magic.

SHE JUST WANTED TO BE A BUTTERFLY!!!

Butterflies got to flit around in the sunlight drinking sweet dew off of pretty little flowers.

While Clara bounced around in the dark, searching for light and the answer to her undeniable longing for old fabric. She tried coming out in the daylight, but her eyes would hurt, and the taste of the flower juice made her throw up a little bit in her mouth.

Clara was sure that the flowers were where the magic was, but it was just too gross. What could she do?

Meanwhile, hunger was attacking her. She couldn't help but head over to Miss Millie's garden to lunch on some undies hanging on their railing. Miss Millie never minded sharing. Other humans were not so friendly.

But Miss Millie's undies definitely had NO MAGIC!

One night, while flying around, hoping for a human to leave a door or window open, she spotted a light on in Trixie Mallan's house. The light looked particularly sparkly.

Clara flew higher in order to get a closer look. She flew so quickly that she almost bumped into the railing of their terrace!

When Clara saw what was inside, she almost fainted! Hanging on a long rail were bunches and bunches of rainbow tutus!

"That MUST be the MAGIC!" she screamed.

Oh, the joy! Oh, the exhilaration! OH, THE HUMANITY! These colorful puffs of heaven must have magic!

If she could enter those doors, she could sink her teeth into some of that colorful material then surely magic would go through her body and transform her into a beautiful butterfly!

A moth could dream.

Well, sure enough, Trixie opened the sliding doors even though it is well

known that if you do that at night, a moth WILL fly in.

Of course, Clara took the chance and flew right in.

Trixie was not one to share, and when she saw Clara she gave chase.

But moths can be tricky. Even though they do not own a graceful fiber in their being, they are quite elusive, as was our Clara on this night.

She bumbled around their dining room while Trixie chased her, shoe in hand. Clara rested on the ceiling where she knew idiota (Spanish for idiot), would never be able to reach her.

She had to stay there out of reach until miss busy body tired out and forgot about her, then, when the lights were out, she would feast on her future! Surely those luscious layers tasted better than sweet Miss Millie's undies!

And OH, what a future! She would flit, she would twinkle, she would sip honeydew and land on little girl's fingers. She would be graceful! She would be pretty! She would glide like a baller..///

SPLAT!

Clara died that night never knowing if the magic did in fact live in those scrumptious layers of chiffon.

(it did),

The big two-legged dummy they called Trixie wiped the ceiling and her shoe, shut the lights, and went to bed.