Sessions from Confessions

Session 6 : Pancakes

Good Morning buddy! Are you ready to have some pancakes?

Uh, no, I don't think so Dad.

Why not Atlas?

Mom said don't eat the pancakes, they're poisoned.

Cal, did you tell Atlas that the pancakes are poisoned?

Well they are.

Are you having fish for breakfast?

As a matter of fact I am.

That doesn't make you sick to your stomach?

Of course not. I'm telling you Robi, don't eat the pancakes.

So most every day Dad would go out into the woods to catch bugs.

Why all the bugs?

It was for his research for school. Something to do with his thesis I think. He had to catch about a million bugs. He would let Zeiss and I come out into the woods with him to hunt. Sometimes mom would come if she wasn't throwing up pancakes. One day while we were in the woods Zeiss and I made a friend. He knew all about bugs so I went and got my parents.

His name was Gary. He said he'd grown up in the woods. He was really cool. When I did actually go to school, he came to visit for my show and tell project.

Well that was nice of him.

Well it didn't work out so good, but anyway he knew a lot about the local bugs. He said most of the Lost Woods Forest belonged to him and that if my dad wanted, he would give him some land that he could use as a bug preserve.

That was generous.

Yeah, Gary was a great guy. A bit of a mystery though.

Mom was still getting sick from her pancakes so we decided to stay a few days longer and check out the bug land Gary had given us.

It really was just land and trees so we put up a couple of tents. It wasn't much different than Axe Murderer Campgrounds but we all loved it. Oh and the best part was no statue man. Mom said she didn't like him hanging around. He gave her the creeps too.

There were lots and lots of bugs.

And there was a little stream. When Gary gave us the land my dad called my Grandpa Soc and told him about it. He was speaking at a tree hugger convention near Lake Wannagoback so he came to see the new land and help my dad set up the bug preserve.

Why would anyone want to preserve bugs?

Oh, well there were lots of rare species in the Lost Woods so it was my dad's job to make sure they could live and colonize there while keeping predators to a minimum. And some of them he used for his research so it worked out. Dad was really happy there living amongst the bugs.

Sounds like a bug man's dream. How did your mother handle it?

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