Ugly Bug Ball
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Once there was a lonely caterpillar of West Bridge, New Hampshire. He lives in a refugee for rescued animals, the only reason why he's there is because he accidentally got shipped in with some plants from Portugal. This particular caterpillar has no name, but he does not need one; for there are seldom other caterpillars in the area. One day this caterpillar started talking to his friend Ringo, a beetle. On this very day Ringo brought his mate, Maureen. The caterpillar was upset and felt even more lonely than before and could not help but cry out, "I've got nobody to love, I'm such an ugly bug!"
A chuckle descended from above them and a black figure sank down, cascading from a thing string of silk coming from its rear.
"If your serious and want to win a bride," a soft voice replied, "come along with us to the victorious, annual Ugly Bug Ball."
The caterpillar considered this briefly; deciding whether to trust this creature or not and asked, "Who else will be there?"
The silhouette sank lower into the sunlight to reveal a glorious, brownish-red spider that had eight hairy legs and ten eyes. Its voice caressed the caterpillar's ears, "All of the creatures that cannot find anyone naturally by looks will be there; spiders, fleas, worms, ticks, ants, slugs, and so on. You will not be alone. I promise."
Ringo looked a bet skeptical, but kept his mouth shut and scooted protectively closer towards Maureen.
The caterpillar relaxed more and sighed, "Yeah. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Excellent. I'll meet you here tomorrow after I have breakfast, than crawl over," the spider instructed, disappearing as mysteriously as she appeared.
"I d-don't like her." Ringo stuttered. "It was just f-floating in mid-air like a whoo-hoo. Do you think we sh-should trust it?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't we trust it?" asked the caterpillar nonchalantly.
"I don't know, it just gives me the creeps. Hey, we got to go, don't want Zak and Jason to get eaten by those mischievous muskrats. They have been after us for the past week. Things have gotten real stressful," Ringo complained scowling.
"That stinks almost as much as my gassy neighbor, Phil. You know that grumpy, purple stink bug? Take care and the best of luck to you," the caterpillar said slowly inching his way to his leaf about five yards away.
The next day the caterpillar got primped almost as soon as he got up around dawn. He started eating twice, close to triple, the amount of food normally consumed so he could appear larger. The caterpillar even took the risk of rolling in the shallow part of the incredibly dangerous and hazardous puddle.
The caterpillar met the spider around mid-day; the same place as yesterday. Except today there was a crimson dragonfly buzzing around her excitedly.
"About time you got here, we got to crawl," the spider complained.
"Gotta crawl, gotta crawl. To the ball, to the ball," the dragonfly chnated musically, now getting on the nerves of teh caterpillar.
"Shut up!" the caterpillar groaned at the dragonfly. He then turned to the spider and said, "Have you ever been to one of these?"
The spider started to skitter across the woodland floor, "Yes. This, sadly, is my third one. You'll have a blast, guaranteed."
The trio became closer to the ball by every step, flap of the wings, and dragging the did. Eventually they came upon a small canopy of leaves and puffy mushrooms.
The caterpillar looked around taking all of the low, musky odors from the mushrooms and pine from the tree. He felt a little embarrassed and grubby with dirt coated on his underside, and how he was late with a coy spider and an over energized dragonfly. The caterpillar eyed all of the creatures swaying to the beat of the crickets clicking their crickey melody. Worms were popping out of the ground at random times in tangled messes, crawling and wrapping around each others' slimy body freshly wet from the rich earth.
The caterpillar inched past some fleas and ants dancing, if you could call it that. Desperately looking for someone to talk to; the caterpillar passed by the spider who gave him a salutation and went on his way. After hauling himself around the caterpillar went over to the bar.
Do not worry dear children for it is a salad bar because responsible creatures take care of their bodies, and help influence others around them to do the same.
The caterpillar started munching on a fresh Oak leaf and let his eyes wonder. He looked past the slugs leaving trails of ooze as they departed with one another; to a glimpse at a group of bees buzzing about some macho, piece of eye candy at the other side of the part.
Consumed with boredom he just stared off to no particular place.
Then suddenly something caught his eye, he scrunched his eyes, aiming to get a better view. He lingered on it for a moment only seeing it's stunning colors of neon yellow, black, and a cool turquoise-green. He inched closer, getting a better look. That's when he realized it was a female caterpillar and most likely one of royalty. Who knows how many princesses show up at balls. Cinderella did, did she not?
Now feeling a sudden longing for the princess, he crawled over to the princess slowly, fulfilling his desire with each inch. Finally, reaching the princess he sat there for a minute, letting his presence be acknowledged and than asked suavely, "Would you care to dance?"
The princess' chubby, yellow caterpillar cheeks turned a light shade of orange, for she was blushing. She nodded tentatively and followed him to the floor where they 'danced' for several half hours.
The caterpillars' dance as expected, the location being at a ball and all, lead to romance. Then she sat upon his caterpillar knees and he gave the princess a squeeze.
Soon they'll honeymoon and build a big cocoon; thanks to the Ugly Bug Ball.