“…Eyeballs…” Bk I. 2. Elytra, the Ladybug
Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There?
By Kate Chamberlin
As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they’re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated by the fictional characters in these stories are valid, tried and true.
Book I: The Early Years
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If You Can’t See…
#2. Elytra, The Ladybug
Grace not only liked the smell of crayons and paste in her nursery school, she wanted to learn everything about everything. One early fall day, Miss Holmberg and the Mothers volunteering that day, took the children on a walk around to the back of the school building and onto the Nature Trail. Grace and her cousin, Zack were paired up as buddies for the hike.
When they came to a grassy clearing in the woods, Miss Holmberg had everyone sit on the logs they found placed in a circle.
“Put on your listening caps,” she said. “What do you hear?”
“Nothing,” Savannah said quickly.
“Then, close your eyes so your ears can hear,” Miss Holmberg suggested.
“I think I hear little peepers singing. Are we near a pond?” John asked.
“I hear leaves knocking together in the trees,” Grace said.
“I hear a bee buzzing,” Zack said with alarm.
“Sit very still and the bee will keep on going,” Miss Holmberg advised. “Not everything in nature makes a sound. I want to share Elytra’s story with you.”.
“Who is Elytra?” Karrah asked.
“I’ll show you.” Miss Holmberg reached into her pocket and pulled out a puppet. She handed it to Grace.
“Grace, you can feel the round back on the puppet, as the others can see the bright red color with black dots on its back,” she said. “Now, put your hand into the glove part of the puppet, Grace.”
“Hey, it’s got legs!” Fred yelled in excitement.
“It’s a ladybug!” Martha said. “Cool.”
“Yes, it’s a ladybug puppet,” Miss Holmberg agreed.
“This glove has six fingers, but, I don’t have enough fingers,” Grace said.
“That’s because insects have six legs,” Miss Holmberg said. “We’ll put this tissue in the sixth leg so Elytra looks right.”
“Ladybugs are all around here; not making a sound. I have a story about Elytra, The Ladybug.”
Elytra could not remember what had happened or where she was when she woke up. Her head pounded and she was starving.
“A tasty aphid would be good, about now,” she thought.
As she Looked around the garden, other ladybugs slowly tested their legs and wings.
“Elytra is the name given to the 2 front, false wings or shell that covers the true wings used for flying,” Miss Holmberg explained.
Two ladybugs flew up and were carried off by a puff of summer wind. She saw another one get snatched out of the air by a swallow. Elytra wanted to go home, but where was home?
She remembered that all the ladybugs had been herded into a small, stuffy box and mailed off. They must have crammed a hundred or more ladybugs into the mailer. It was no way to treat a ladybug. Or a gentleman bug, for that matter either.
“Ladybugs are not native to every state,” Miss Holmberg said. “They are raised on Ladybug farms and are shipped by mail to those who place an order.”
The mailer sat in the post office for almost four days. Then in the mail box at the end of the lane for two days. The jostling she’d gotten in the boy’s bike basket when he finally did pick them up, was enough to make her pass out. The way he just dumped them all out into the garden was a shock but it brought her to her senses.
Elytra saw well-tended rows of carrots, onions, beets, and beans with patches of tomato, pumpkin and cucumber. Bright mounds of marigolds were scattered in among the vegetables.
“My Grandma Kate plants all kinds of things together so she doesn’t have to weed it so often,” Sarah said. “She says it keeps the bugs confused, so they go away.”
A few weeds grew along the board paths, but that didn’t matter to Elytra. Her mouth was like cotton on a humid summer day. She wanted water, but, where was it?
She walked down the board and noticed a round, puddle. Carefully she dragged herself up onto the edge of the pale, the amber liquid smelled awful. Slugs limp bodies floated on it. Their deaths warned her not to drink the beer.
“Beer?” John exclaimed. “My Dad drinks beer, but he doesn’t fall in or drown.”
Elytra opened her red shell and spread her true wings and hoped the wind wouldn’t take her too far.
She squeezed a bitter juice out of her leg joints. This liquid is actually blood but once a bird tastes its bitter taste, they won’t feed on Ladybugs.
A swallow caught the bright red of her shell and swooped down to snatch her out of the air, but, at the last minute, he remembered how bad the other ladybug had tasted. He knocked Elytra to the ground.
“Wow,” Zack said. “That was close!”
She fell to the dirt. She landed on the outer leaf of a fluffy, brilliant yellow flower.
Painfully she Crawled toward the main stem of the dandelion. Sheltered underneath was a small well of water. She took a few cautious sips.
Suddenly, Dirt, roots, pebbles, and Elytra went sailing through the, air. The boy didn’t care how he weeded the garden or what he mashed.
Elytra managed to spread her wings in time to keep herself from smashing against the cement birdbath. she landed on a rock.
The boy’s dog noticed her land and came over to investigate. He sniffed so closely to her, she could feel the smelly wet breath.
“I have a dog,” Fred interrupted. “He stays outside, ‘cause Ma says he’s too stanky.”
When the dog excitedly barked, Elytra was tumbled antennae over wing-tips off the rock.
The punky, fragrant rotting wood softened her fall when she Landed flat on her back. It’s moistness felt cool. Her eyes were soothed by the dark wood shielding her from the glare of the sun.
As she kicked her feet and pumped her wings to right herself, she sensed there were other ladybugs nearby.
Elytra search for them. They were Under the bark. she found many of her travel mates hiding from the boy and his dog, hoping they wouldn’t find their hiding place behind the rock and under the log. She felt safe within the colony. She was home.
Miss Holmberg put the puppet back in her pocket and said, “Let’s count with the ladybugs. Each time I say a number, you hold up that many fingers to see hominy ladybugs come to the Ladybug Party.”
Ladybug 1, say how do you do. Hold up one finger, Savannah.
Ladybug 2, has come to play with you.
Ladybug 3, has climbed a tree,
Ladybug 4 sadly skinned her knee.
Ladybug 5 is hiding under the bark.
Ladybug 6 wants to be a lark.
Ladybug 7 got stuck in the hay,
Ladybug 8 doesn’t know what to say.
Ladybug 9 never knows the time, and
Ladybug 10 only has a dime.
Ladybugs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Do, come play again.
Grace and her classmates clapped and laughed as the finger-play ended.
For the next couple of days, the children read books, looked at inter-net pictures and learned more about ladybugs. But, the best time was when they could play with the ladybug puppet with six legs named Elytra.
Science Reference: Coccinella (beetle) septeinpunctata (7 spots)