A Fuzzy Explorer

I pushed through the screen door and marched down the porch steps to patrol the warm flagstones. Right in the middle of a sunlit slate paver, a plump woolly bear caterpillar was bristling forward in its bands of black and rusty orange! Tucking my yellow flashlight under one arm, I knelt down on the mossy path and laid a smooth wooden twig right across its route. The fuzzy little traveler didn't hesitate for a second. It gripped the bark with its tiny prolegs and marched steadily over my makeshift ramp like a brave scout traversing a kingdom mountain pass. I held my breath, thrilled by its fearless stride.

1 Nauk