"A wise caterpillar once told me, 'Things are not always what they seem'."

How much difference do a few years make?

Turns out, it can be a lot.

M: "You always call me at the most precarious times!"

N: "What on earth are you always doing that is so precarious?"

M: "I'm standing on a ladder to get to the top of the tree. There are black caterpillars eating up my tree!"

N: "So what are you going to do? Put them in the garden? No, I guess you wouldn't want them eating your plants. So. . . ?"

M: "No! They're going in the garbage!"

N: "I remember a time when you rescued a caterpillar from your truck antenna and brought it home and put it on the tree at our apartment. You even took a picture of it. I remember."

M: "Well that was before I owned the tree and there were about forty of them eating my tree! You should see all the damage they've done!"

M: (later) "I put the caterpillars in soapy water and looked up "organic pesticides" in my nifty garden book."

M: (next day) "The birds are going to have a good meal tomorrow! I put the dead caterpillars out for them to eat."

N: (thinks to herself) Poor soapy caterpillars!

[Title quote is from "DysEnchanted"]