Butterfly Therapy

Out in the garden on a sunny day surrounded by flowers I sat. The aroma of roses and climbing clematis didn't blot out the smell of my own shampoo. The hum of bees busily gathering nectar an undertone to the bird song announcing their territories and calling to their mates.

"It's a lovely day, isn't it?" the nurse said with genuine enthusiasm. But I was ever vigilant.

Soon I spied the colorful wings and flapping gait of a butterfly sniffing out it's next meal. They tell me that here butterflies are harmless. The nurses enjoy tormenting me by trying to get them to land on their hands to prove to me that they were safe.

But once you've drunk the potion marked 'Drink Me' and seen the way they divebomb, determined to pinch you and carry you off to the Queen, you don't believe any realm is safe. Proboscis' are not only for nectar.

It must have been the shampoo they made me use. I told them I didn't want it. Two more of the creatures approached me. They looked innocent, but I knew. I ran.