Metamorphosis

Some birthday.

Megan woke with cramps, and when she rose from her bed, she saw blood on the sheet.

She showered, then opened the box that her mother left under the sink after The Talk the week before.

Strange. She didn’t feel any more like a woman than she did yesterday.

Still in her bathrobe, she entered the kitchen and saw her mother holding up a jar. “Look, dear.”

Inside, a tiger swallowtail perched on an opened cocoon, its wings still wet.

Outside, Megan laid the jar in the grass, its lid removed. “Happy birthday, Tiger. You’re a real girl now.”