Props to Butterflies

Shadowing after Cole while he long-boarded through the neighborhood streets of Ventura, CA I ran across a deceased butterfly laying fully intact on the sidewalk. It was lovely in its death and I decided to take it back because I thought Hannah might like to see it. It really was lovely. I set it on a porch bench by the front door and forgot about it until the next day when we were departing for our long drive home.

"Hannah," I said, "look at this butterfly I found." She paused to look it over and then took it from my hands. Without seeming hesitation she walked over to my Aunt Gerry's rose garden, placed the carcass on top of a rose, and began snapping photos as she contorted to get different angles.

What she produced are some almost surreal photos of a dead butterfly (is 'almost surreal' a description [almost a hallucinatory dream-like state]?). I say . . .