A Halloween Wombat

Two butterflies were hovering around some flowers outside a shopping center. They watched as a small little girl skipped out with her mother, carrying a shopping bag and waving a plastic wand.

"I'm going to be the best ballerina ever, Mommy!" she crowed. Her mother smiled and said, "Yes dear, you will!"

A little boy came out of the store, wearing a Spiderman mask and halfway out of his clothes. He was clutching a ball of red and blue fabric in his hand.

"Not here, Micheal!" his mother gasped, looking as if she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Wait until we get to the car to change!" She drug him along by one arm as he left a trail of clothes behind him.

"What are you going to be?" one butterfly asked the other.

"Be?" the second butterfly cocked an antennae at him.

"For Halloween," the first butterfly landed delicately on a flower.

"I didn't know butterflies could be anything but butterflies," the second butterfly said, utterly confused.

"Sure you can," the first butterfly hopped to another flower. "I always dress up. So what are you going to be?"

"I think I'll be a turnip," the second butterfly said thoughtfully. "What are you going to be?"

"A turnip?" the first butterfly snorted. "You can't be a turnip! That's boring. And weird. You need a better costume than that."

"Well what are you going to be?" the second butterfly challenged. "What's your costume?"

"I'm going to be a wombat," the first butterfly beamed.

"A wombat?" the second butterfly exclaimed. "There's no such thing as a wombat!"

"Sure there is," the first butterfly said. "I would make a great wombat."

"A butterfly can't be a wombat!" the second butterfly spat. He was very clearly disturbed by this idea. "That's an imaginary animal."

"Is not," the first butterfly said. "At least I'm not a turnip."

"It was all I could think of," the second butterfly said defensively. "At least a turnip is real."

"You could be a wombat," the first butterfly offered. "We could be twinkies!"

"I love twinkies," the second butterfly said dreamily. "Especially after they've been sitting in the sun for awhile.....so warm and creamy..."

"That's not what I meant..." the first butterfly gave up when he saw the second butterfly was still staring dreamily at the sky. "Whatever."

They sat on the flowers, letting the sun warm their wings. Another child skipped by with his mother in tow.

"Hey Mom!" he yelled. "I want a to be a wombat for Halloween!"

The first butterfly looked at the second butterfly triumphantly.

"See?" he said.

The second butterfly shook his head. "Whoever heard of a wombat for Halloween?"