For weeks now, I’ve been coming home to find a caterpillar in my apartment. He’s usually on the linoleum in the entryway or on the carpet in the living room. Once he was all the way in the bedroom. Every time I find him inside, I put him outside, but eventually he gets back inside again. He’s too big to fit under the door, so I think he hides quietly by the door jam and waits, and then when I open the door, he stealthily scurries into the apartment.

I’m not sure why he wants to be inside. It’s my understanding that caterpillars need leaves or trees (or something), and I don’t have either. There’s a perfectly good tree right outside my apartment, but no, he wants to be in here with me.

He’s cute, too. He’s not icky like a bug; he’s fuzzy and you can pet him. When I pick him up to move him, he curls up and pretends to be a fuzzy, black Cheerio. He doesn’t fool me, though; he’s a caterpillar, not a Cheerio.

I would keep him as a pet (and I think that’s exactly what he wants), but I really don’t know how to care for a caterpillar properly. I think he’d be better off in the wild than in captivity.

So today, when I found him sneaking up the door jam, waiting for me to come home, I decided to put him in the tree out front. He hasn’t come back yet; hopefully he’s happy with the tree and will make it his new home. Part of me will miss him, though, so I’ll prob’ly go out to the tree and visit him every once in a while to make sure he’s okay. Perhaps he’ll come visit me too.