mulberry leaves

It is fascinating to me how we can develop feelings for things that we would normally dismiss. We see caterpillars in the yard all the time and don't think twice about them, but Cole brings one home from school, names him Charlie, and it is suddenly a family pet.

If you look closely in the box you will see a silkworm and what could possibly be his last meal. I hope he savors it because we have reduced ourselves to minor acts of shoplifting to keep him fed.

There is a box of silk worms on display at Cole's school and he asked to take one home. The teacher told us that they only eat mulberry leaves. Mary and I looked at each other and thought 'surely mulberry leaves can't be that difficult to find, can they?' Mary searched around our neighborhood and tried an assortment of leaves and the poor little caterpillar would not eat any of them--at which point she sent me the following text:

"No mulberry leaves. I have just sentenced a silkworm to die and I feel terrible about it."

She then found a mulberry plant at a local garden store, but it sells for $45 and we couldn't justify the expense. I would have chipped in $15 for the little guy but almost Fifty dollars for a pet that isn't really a pet is too much. The only option left was petty theft. Mary plucked six leaves and stashed them in her purse to take home to our worm.

What are we teaching our children during this episode?

1. Cora is allowed to play with the worm, but kidnapping him from the box and hiding him around the house is discouraged.
2. Be sure you know about the proper care of a pet before making a commitment to bring it into the family.
3. Not all leaves are created equal in the eyes of certain caterpillars.
4. People resort to a life of crime when their allegiance to an ideal is strong enough to do something about it, but market values exceed their available resources. It is a good thing the worm doesn't eat diamonds.