Lukas watched intently as the mantis crawled along its leaf. He’d been laying in a small patch of grass behind the house, out of sight of the road or any passerby. He was hoping if he could catch a bug, he could keep it. He remembered from one of his books that mantises could fly, so he had to be extra careful not to let it get away.
Normally, he’d ask Ray to help him if he was having trouble, but his brother was helping Alli make lunch rather than sitting outside. Leo said having to stay against the wall of the house was boring, and that he’d rather stay inside than sit in one little spot. So Lukas was on his own for this one, just him, a glass jar, and his little bug box. He had grass and some crickets inside the box already, ready to give the mantis a home. I hope Alli lets me keep it, he thought, worried that after he caught it he’d be told to let it go right away.
He slowly raised the jar above the mantis, then quickly slammed the jar down on top of it. He slid his hand under the jar with the mantis carefully, then let it crawl into his bug box. He closed the little door after it and admired his new friend. Double checking that the door was secure he brought it inside to show the others.
“I caught a bug!” Lukas shouted as soon as he opened the door, stepping into the kitchen. Ray ran over to see.
“Woah, what kind is it? It’s so big!’ asked Ray in amazement. He hadn’t ever seen a bug like this one, only small bugs like mosquitoes, crickets, and ladybugs.
“It’s called a Praying Mantis,” Lukas said with pride. “He’s called that because his little hands look like he’s praying, see?”
Lukas was excited to see even Leo looked impressed by his catch. His older brother had seen so many things in his explorations, it was hard sometimes to find something he found interesting. Most things Lukas and Ray discovered, Leo had already seen and would tell them a story about what happened when he first found it. But he hadn’t seen this bug before, and asked Lukas what he was going to do with it.
“I’m going to keep it!” he said excitedly. “Well, I’m going to keep it if Alli says I can.”
“You can keep it for one day,” she said from her position in front of the counter, chopping vegetables. “Tomorrow you have to set it free again, it’ll be happier outside.”
“Okay.” He supposed that was fair. He liked the bug, he didn’t want it to be sad. Keeping it for one day would give him enough time to watch it’s behavior and take some pictures of it to add to his picture book of bugs he had caught. Walking into his room, he set his bug box down on the desk he shared with Ray, and sat down to watch his little friend while he waited for lunch to be done.
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