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Wild, Wild Children, cont. ‍
The young arthropod, so recently plucked from the tree it was climbing, crawls around the wrist of its captor. “Uhm, no thank you. I don’t want to hold it.” “Oh no.” They back away from a chance to hold a millipede, eyes wide.

But Captain K just chuckles with a devious raise of the eyebrows. “If you don’t, I’m going to put it in your HAIR.”

Reluctantly, one seventh grade girl, then another, then the others allow the millipede to crawl over their hands with his dozens of pairs of bristly little legs.

“It tickles!”

“Ewww, it POOPED on me!”

“Here, it won’t hurt you. And it’s already pooped…”

One by one, these reluctant young ladies hold their first millipede. It doesn’t bite, it doesn’t sting, and its poop is very, very tiny. Braver now, they examine a spider and a snail and a salamander. Nothing hurts them. They began to feel more at ease in their natural environment: the great outdoors. They are truly on their way to becoming Wild Children. ~Capt. K