Invest Dependability
Lucy Ladybug had been waiting and waiting for her chance to get into the house and rescue her teeny tiny friend, Scarlet. Finally, the screen door was propped open and Lucy quickly got up from the door mat, shaking the loose dirt off when she looked up and was face to face with Olaf, the big solid grey cat. She froze in fear. Olaf’s eyes were narrowed in and dead set on Lucy. He was crouching down, slinking toward her and growling.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a ladybug dropped down in the middle of them. He emitted the nastiest smelling odor that had ever come out of any one ladybug. And that made Olaf start sneezing and run off.
“Are you hurt?” He asked
Lucy’s eyes were as big as saucers. She looked beyond his little rim glasses and saw the kindest blue eyes looking back at her. He was yellow, the color of butter.
She blinked and suddenly became very embarrassed about her appearance and her misshaped black spots. “I, I don’t think so.” She stammered “Thank you for helping me.”
“No problem, I was on my way to the back garden and happened to see Olaf. You aren’t the first ladybug he’s tried to take down, I’m Leroy, by the way.”
Lucy was tongue tied.
“And your name is….” Asked Leroy
“Oh, sorry. I’m…um... I’m Lucy.”
“Well, Lucy, very glad to meet you. I was on my way to get aphids. Care to join me?”
Lucy’s little tummy started to growl at the sound of food. Lucy looked back at the closed door. When would she get another chance to get in? She was petrified of Olaf coming back? And what if she didn’t go with Leroy? She might never see him again, as she was certain he wasn’t in Lucy’s colony or staying in the same shelter.
Leroy was patiently waiting for an answer.
“Yes,” Lucy thought to herself, “It would be easier to leave than to stay. It would be easier to quit than to finish. But the easy thing is not always the right thing.”
“No, Leroy, I have someone who very much needs me, but thank you.” And she settled back onto the mat, watching Leroy fly off.
Ask your child:
What was the easy thing for Lucy to do?
Why did Lucy choose to do what was hard?
Aposematism is a long word that simply means, a warning signal. Ladybugs give off a foul smell as one of their warning signals when they are in danger.
Drawing by Vivien Lee/Click on the drawing to listen to the audio version!
