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Grilled Cheese is a product of Village Compute

Version devBuilt at: 2026-10-16 23:52:51 EDT

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Butterfly
By Pat Grieco

Ain't that just the way life is.
One moment everything is soft and wrinkly.
The next, it's suddenly sharp and unyielding.

You buy a brand-new house
in a new development
only to have a raging river
just outside the back door
because the builder had the water
from the next street over
draining directly into your back yard.

They fixed it,
after a few polite, but pointed conversations,
and your backyard was yours once more to use without fear of having everything washed away by a sudden rain.

Yep. Now, that house has a great yard, ready to be used,
arranged just like you want it, 
when the people who move in next door turn out to be freaks,
well mannered, upstanding freaks, 
but still freaks.

They trespass ALL THE TIME
forcing you to build a fence to stop that nonsense.
They get mad of course.
figuring they had every right to walk across your yard 
to throw their trash behind your house.
They never really forgive you for it 
but at least you have that fence.

And it's a magnificent fence,
eight feet tall and surrounding the entire lawn.
While you're admiring that fence
and basking in the peace and quiet
of your personal private space,
the most beautiful butterfly you have ever seen
flies over the fence and into your backyard.
It flies around and around
flitting from tree to flower to bush
and then lands smack dab on that fence.
Resting, it flexes its wings in the sun,
warming itself, readying for another flight.

It is perhaps the most singularly perfect moment, 
peaceful, calm, when everything comes together 
in a way that reaches straight into your soul 
and marks you in a way that few things can.

Then WHAM!
Out of nowhere a bird swoops in and strikes, 
grabbing that butterfly in its sharp, pointy claws 
and flying off leaving nothing behind
but the memory of the butterfly 
and its sudden, brutal demise.
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