13 CATERFLIES

Chapter thirteen Caterflies. "Mrow!" called Sassafras as we turned the corner to the little meadow where the caterflies lived. I looked down to see a caterfly riding on Sassafras's head. I bent closer and heard the unmistakable tiny purr of a happy caterfly. "Hello, sweet little friend!" I said, and before I knew it, about a dozen caterflies were hovering around us. One landed on Pip's head, one landed on my shoulder, and two caterflies flew over to Wishy. "WAIT!" she shouted. "Don't come—hic— any closer!"

The two caterflies looked from Wishy to me and back again. I held out a hand, and they landed. "Our friend Wishy has a bad case of hiccups, and they make her magic do strange things. If you don't get too close to her, you should be safe." Pip called out, "We are asking everyone for their hiccup cures to try to help Wishy." One of the caterflies in my hand said, "Ahhh. In that case, wait here, please!" She meowed once, and five other caterflies flew off with her. I raised an eyebrow at Pip. He shrugged and reached up to pet the caterfly under the chin. They were only gone a minute. I pointed to six caterflies carrying a large yellow thing between them. "Pip? Is that a… lemon?" Pip squinted. "I think it is!" The group of caterflies flew to my hand. "Oof! Here you go, Zoey! If you peel that and have your friend suck on it, that should fix her hiccups," the caterfly said proudly. "Wait here with Pip and Sassafras," I told the caterflies.

"Oooooooh, Sassafras!" half a dozen tiny caterfly voices squealed as they burrowed into my cat's fur. I peeled the lemon and handed it to Wishy. Then I pulled out my stopwatch to time her hiccups and gave her the thumbs-up. Wishy took the lemon in both hands and took a big bite. She sucked in the lemon juice, and her face wrinkled up.

"Oh, wow—hic—that is—hic—really so—hic —very sour—hic—!" I lowered my stopwatch and shook my head. "The lemon juice made it worse." "Oh no!" cried a caterfly. "We're so sorry," said another. "Something sour always seems to work when

we get the hiccups," said the caterfly that had been on my hand. "Don't worry about it!" I said. "There's really no single cure for the hiccups. That's why we're asking everyone. Even though it didn't work, you gave us some good information. Now we know lemons won't cure Wishy." Pip added, "Thank you so much for trying, caterflies!" We waved goodbye, and all the caterflies swarmed Sassafras once more for a big snuggle before we left. "Hippogriffs next?" suggested Pip, and I nodded.