Yesterday I was sitting in the outdoor section of a Starbucks near Yokohama station sipping coffee, when I noticed a butterfly flitting and fluttering about, checking out the cafe as if to see if it were a good place to settle down and raise a family.
At that moment something came over me…a wonderful feeling I’d never felt before. A kinda Disney feeling.
You see, for the briefest of moments I imagined myself as the kind of person who could extend a finger and the butterfly, sensing my, I don’t know, my inner Snow White, purity of heart and utter inability to harm another of the Creator’s creatures, especially one as beautiful and guileless and harmless as a butterfly, that it would descend sharply and land upon my offered digit.
But, that feeling only lasted the few seconds…
The few seconds it took for the butterfly to descend to a height parallel with my sight line, with that erratic style of flying they have that gives no sign which direction it would go next, whether it would dart across the street or directly into my face.
And once I get a good look at the pattern on its wings, which are a silky black speckled with the yellow of diluted urine, and its design suggestive of an intelligence equally ingenious and inhuman, well…
I suddenly remember that while I have had rare precious moments where nature and I have gotten along swimmingly, I haves NO love for any insects, ESPECIALLY winged insects,
…and I practically dive inside the café to finish my coffee.