The Butterly Trap
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How does one capture Happiness? Other people seem to have it.
"There must be a way to get it and keep it," they said amongst themselves.
The butterfly named Happiness floated around them like she did every day. She'd landed on most of the kids at least once or twice, and they all agreed that it's The Best when she does, and because they're comparing all other moments to The Best, when she doesn't land on them, it's The Worst.
One day this group of children decided that they were going to capture her and keep her once and for all.
First, they needed traps. They put their heads together and came up with a plan. They dug plastic Coca Cola bottles out of trash cans for the next few days and cut the skinny parts off so that it left a hole big enough for a large butterfly to enter. They prominently placed voluptuous dandelions in the back of the bottles to attract the butterfly. When she flew in, they'd simply cup their hand over the entryway.
Next, they split up into groups, each devising a different strategy to get the butterfly into the traps.
The leader of the first group of boys said, "Ben from 4th grade says Happiness lands on him all the time, and I heard Ben's really rich."
So they each borrowed some of their mothers' jewelry and one of their fathers' ties. They even paid a kid from another class $0.50 to act as their servant for all of recess. "We look good and rich y'all! There's a zero percent chance Happiness doesn't land on us today."
"My mom drinks a bottle of wine every night," said one girl from the second group. "She starts smiling and laughing. I think Happiness must land on her a lot."
"But we're too young to drink. They'll never give us wine," said another.
“Guys,” one kid said, his voice quivering with excitement, “I've got it. Listen to this. Hand sanitizer. We drink hand sanitizer.”
Everyone got silent and exchanged awkward glances.
"What if we just drink orange juice?" says another. "I can't imagine butterflies care WHAT we're drinking as long as we're drinking, right?"
Groups three and four teamed up to give each other compliments.
"When the butterfly sees how much everyone else likes us, of course she'll land on us!" they all agreed.
"You're so smart, Jan."
"You're the best baseball player in the world, Blake."
"You have the best conduct in the class, Bebe! You never get in trouble."
"I'd land on those delicate young shoulders any day of the week. I'd like to just stand on that soft, sensitive epidermis all day and just be.”
Group five walked around giving everyone orders. Sure that when the butterfly saw that they were in charge, she couldn't NOT land on them.
Group six just copied what the other groups were doing, thinking they looked pretty sure of their plans, so they must have figured it out!
Group seven found a dead moth and pretended like they'd already caught Happiness.
"Uhhh, that's a dead moth," said a boy from another group as he passed by. "Do you actually want to catch Happiness or just make us think you did?"
Each group felt very confident in their own plans, laughing at the stupidity of the other groups.
Meanwhile, Happiness flew all around the playground, occasionally drawn in by these spectacles, but never falling for any of the schemes.
A little girl, who'd been sitting under a tree by herself reading a book and watching all of this with delight, giggled. Happiness had just landed right on her arm.
Her eyes devoured the creature with curiosity. And even when it was leaving, since she didn't lunge her hand greedily at the butterfly causing it to flee as most did, it came back and sat some more.
“HAPPINESS. — A butterfly, which when pursued, seems always just beyond your grasp; but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” -L. in The Daily Crescent (June, 1848)