ONCE, there was a little boy called Momoy who had no friends. He had no brothers or sisters either, so he was very lonely. He would often watch other kids outside their gate playing with their friends--he never could join them because he was too scared to ask. One day, as he came out of the gate of their house, he saw something strange on the street. He hurried and went inside to ask his Mom, who was in the kitchen preparing him a snack.

"Mom, what is that on the street?" he asked, tugging at her skirt.

"What, anak?" she asked, not knowing what he was talking about.

"The big gray lump on the street. It just suddenly appeared there," he explained.

His mom finally understood. "Oh that! Well, that's a hump."

"A what?"

"A hump," she repeated.

"Like the one on Lola Moda's back?" Momoy asked.

"No, that's different. Lola Moda's is due to a spinal problem. This one was made to slow down cars." She handed him his sandwich. "You can eat this outside." She hugged him and gave him a little pat on the backside.

Momoy went out once again. He sat on their driveway and stared at the gray hump while eating his sandwich. He heard the sound of children laughing. He saw that the neighborhood kids were playing patintero at the other end of the street. He wanted to join them but he was so shy, he couldn't bring himself to make friends with them. He sighed, saying, "I wish I had even one friend."

"You could say that again."

Momoy was surprised when he heard that voice. He thought he was alone. "Who's that?" he asked, looking around but finding nobody there.

"That was me," it answered. The voice seemed to come from somewhere near him.

Momoy changed the question. "Well, who are you?"

It answered, "I'm what you've been staring at for the longest time now."

Momoy was puzzled. The only thing he'd been staring at was the hump. Could it be the one speaking? He looked at it, just to make sure, then asked, "Mr. Hump, is that you?"

Suddenly, eyes popped out from the end of the hump near Momoy. They looked mad. "Excuse me, but my name is not Mr. Hump, it's Octavio. Also, for your information, I am not a hump. I am a caterpillar." It said huffily.

Momoy could do nothing but apologize immediately. "I'm so sorry, Sir. It's just that you don't--" He was about to say that Octavio didn't look like a caterpillar, when he was interrupted.

"I don't what?" Octavio shouted.

"No, nothing," Momoy was intimidated into saying.

"Harrumph!" was all the caterpillar-hump said.

Suddenly, a car came roaring down the street. Momoy stared, then realized what might happen--what was about to happen. He shouted with all his might for the people inside the car to stop, but they didn't seem to hear. They drove over the hump and continued on their way.

Momoy was scared. "Octavio?" he asked aloud, "Can you hear me?"

There was a cough, then an answer. "Yup. Boy, I'm glad all that dust didn't clog my ears." Then, the eyes popped open again.

Momoy was still worried. "Did it hurt?"

Octavio answered, "No, not a bit . . . Well--maybe just a little."

Momoy was reassured enough to feel curious. "What are you doing there anyway?"

Octavio was silent. Then the disdainful look in his eyes was replaced by sadness. He answered softly, "I don't have any friends."

"Really?" Momoy asked. "Why?"

Octavio's voice grew very sad. "The others don't like me because I don't look like a caterpillar. They said that I'm too big and I don't have bumps or hair on my back. So, I decided to lie around here. The cars or people who passed by didn't seem to mind, so I stayed."

Momoy felt sad for the caterpillar, knowing that he might be just as sad as he was. Suddenly, he came up with an idea. He was afraid though, that Octavio might not agree. He asked anyway. "W-would you like me to be your friend?"

The caterpillar's eyes were surprised, then seemed to twinkle in a smile. "Would you really?"

"Sure."

Saying you were someone's friend was easier than being one, though. At first, Octavio proved to be a very grumpy, touchy friend to have. Momoy though, continued to treat him with patience and kindness. Soon enough, Octavio opened up and had many great times swapping stories with Momoy, playing "I Spy," and most especially looking at clouds and imagining. When Momoy's mother would finally call him for dinner, Momoy would make sure to pick some fresh leaves from the garden and lay it close to Octavio so he could eat them while he himself was having dinner. Caterpillars like leaves, Momoy thought to himself, Mom told me so.

Octavio soon became Momoy's best friend in the whole world. He felt sorry for Octavio when he got ran-over by cars. He got especially worried when it was those great big trucks that rolled over him.

One day, he tried telling Octavio that maybe he should move to a safer place.

"Why?" Octavio asked.

"So you won't get run-over by cars."

There was silence, then a firm, "No."

"But why?"

"I just don't want to, okay?" came Octavio's grumpy reply.

Momoy got mad. "Fine," he said. "But you know what, you're just scared."

"No I'm not." Octavio was quick to defend himself.

"Oh yes you are."

"Look who's talking."

"What did you mean by that?" Momoy immediately asked.

"You're scared the kids won't like you," Octavio said, "that's why you never play with them."

"I just don't like playing that much," Momoy lied.

"And my mom eats worms!" Octavio shouted, not believing him one bit.

Now Momoy was really mad. He saw the neighborhood kids playing luksong tinik. He stood up, turned his back to Octavio, and went to them. He approached them slowly. They stopped playing when they saw him.

"Hi!" Momoy said shyly. "I'm Momoy. C-c-can I join you?"

No one answered. Then a boy, about the same age as Momoy, came up to him and asked, "Can you jump high?"

"I think so," Momoy answered.

"Good, you'll be on my team."

Momoy played with the neighborhood kids every day. He was still mad at Octavio but he never forgot to pick leaves from the garden and pile them up near Octavio every day. Octavio though, didn't even open his eyes to show that he even noticed Momoy. One day, as he was piling fresh leaves for Octavio, Momoy thought he heard him say, "Good-bye. I too must find a place where I belong." But when Momoy looked at Octavio, his eyes were still closed.

The next day, Octavio disappeared. All that was left was his imprint on the street pavement. Momoy cried a lot. He missed Octavio and regretted having gotten mad at him. Octavio was his first best friend in the whole world and now he's gone.

One day, Momoy's mother saw him crying in the garden.

Worried, she asked, "Anak, what's the matter?"

At first he wouldn't answer, but as his Mom hugged him close, it all came pouring out. "My caterpillar's gone." He burst into tears again.

His mother seemed puzzled. She obviously didn't know how to comfort Momoy. After a while though, she calmly wiped his tears. "Maybe he has turned into a butterfly."

This made him stop crying. Catterpillars are not so pretty while butterflies are beautiful creatures. He looked up at his Mom with a questioning glance. "Do they do that?"

"Yes, they do." His Mom nodded seriously. "So you should stop crying now. For all you know, he may be happily flying about somewhere."

Momoy liked that thought. He looked past his mom and up the sky to search for any sign of Octavio. Right then, a giant puffy cloud shaped like a butterfly came floating by. Smaller clouds were gathered around and seemed to play with it.

Momoy smiled. He knew now where Octavio was. Down here, with Momoy, he had been a special caterpillar. It is only fitting that now, up there, he's special butterfly with puffy clouds for playmates.

Marby majored in Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines.