The Worm and The Stick-Bug

©Jason I. Stutz 2020

A worm, on a cloudy day, emerges from the wet soil and crawls over and under a garden grass.  A stick bug arrives, poising himself in perfect stillness on a stick in the worm’s path.

The worm crawls over the soil, inch by inch, until it reaches the stick where the stick bug stands so poised.  The stick bug sees the worm coming and hopes it will go around him.  The worm continues forward until its nose is pressing against the stick-bug’s foot.

The stick bug is rattled.  He was so still and poised, perfectly actualizing his being-function in nature.  The worm, unknowing, presses forward, feeling the resistance he expected from the stick starting to give way.  The stick bug is sweating, his leg trembling from the force of the worm’s body against it.

His strength fails and his leg gives way to the worm.  The worm, expecting the firmness of a stick, moves forward into the stick-bug more until his nose presses against the stick-bug’s other leg.  The stick bug is very stressed, now, for, the perfection with which he was fulfilling his being-function in nature has now been very much disturbed!

He shouts at the worm, who does not hear him, and continues, a little confusedly, himself, to move forward through into and underneath the stick’s body.  The stick-bug is very upset.  The worm not only doesn’t hear him, but is pressing against him with a strength he cannot resist.

His hind legs lift from the force of the worm moving underneath him.  The stick-bug, totally insulted, rolls his eyes, totally offended, stiffening his thin limbs as much as he can.  Finally, the worm has moved all the way through, out the other side of the stick-bug, and continues on its way.

“I am a stick bug, not a stick, you fool!” cries the stick-bug at the worm, his legs now sticky and burdened by the worm’s wet mucus.

The sparrow discovered the stick-bug by his voice. “Thank you, ” said the sparrow, who had been seeking a meal.  “I did not see you until you betrayed yourself,” and she swooped down, snatching the stick-bug in her mouth.