I was sitting right outside the library in this cozy little hallway that had comfy benches and tables.  My laptop was out and I wasn’t paying much attention as people walked in and out of the building (I was too busy doing homework on my computer).

I heard a woman walk out of the library and over to one of the classrooms on the other end of the building (where the teachers were receiving free smoothies).  She started screaming about a ‘worm’ that was by the library door to a few of the faculty in the room.

Another lady came out to investigate and all I could hear was two girls screaming over the gross ‘worm or caterpillar’ on the floor.  Thinking to myself that there was a HUGE difference (at least in my mind) between what a worm and a caterpillar looked like, curiosity got the best of me..

I placed my laptop down on the table across from me and walked over to the entrance to the library.  There, stood a woman and a tissue on the floor next to her feet.

“Scared of a worm..?”  I asked, looking from her to the tissue on the floor.

“Well, we’re not sure what it is..”  The woman replied.  “I just sent someone back to get a piece of paper to pick it up with, the tissue was too thin..”  She added, picking the tissue up.

What was under the tissue was neither a worm, nor a caterpillar..  I almost wanted to laugh with what it actually was, but I had to remind myself that not everyone has seen this type of insect before.  Laying on the floor, minding it’s own business, was an adorable little millipede!

I tried my best not to laugh or giggle as I picked the scared little millipede up and held it in my hand.

The lady looked at me like I was crazy!

“You picked it up?!”  She asked, appalled.

“It’s only a millipede, it’s not harmful..”  I replied with a smile, stroking the millipede.  I offered to take it outside for the lady’s, to which the lady gratefully agreed.

Just then, the other lady (who was sent to fetch some paper to pick it up with) came back.  The first lady explained to the second lady that it wasn’t a worm, it was a millipede, and that I was kind enough to offer to take it out for them.

“Oh, oops, did you hear us freaking out over it?”  She asked, not yet realizing that I was holding it in my hands.

“A little bit..”  I laughed.

“She’s offered to take it outside for us.”  The first lady repeated to the second.

The second lady looked down on the ground to where the tissue had been, her paper ready to use to pick up the creepy crawly with, only to realize that the millipede was not there anymore..  With the light bulb going off in her head, she looked down in my hand to see the curled up and frightened little millipede.  Her eyes grew wide (with ether fear or amazement).

“YOU PICKED IT UP?!”  She screamed in horror.

“Yes..  It’s only a millipede, it’s not dangerous.”  I repeated.

“Yeah, but it’s gross feeling!”  She replied with a grimace.

I couldn’t help but laugh at that..  The lady’s thanked me for being ‘brave’ enough to pick it up and bring it outside for them.  I did just that..

I walked the millipede outside and across the walkway to the grass, apologizing to it for the lady’s scaring it and telling it that it was free to do as it pleased now that it was outside.

I walked back inside the building with a huge smile on my face, free to laugh at the funny lady’s who were afraid of the ‘worm’.  I laughed harder when I thought about the fact that these lady’s were clearly not part of the agriculture department here.

 

(Disclaimer, I actually thought that it was called a centipede at first, but a friend of a friend kindly corrected me.  So any place I said millipede in the story, I actually at the time said centipede.  It was NOT a centipede!  But considering the two lady’s in the library thought that it was a worm, no one cared that I mixed up ‘centipede’ and ‘millipede’..)

 

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