“Do fish have mothers and fathers?”

“Yes. All animals have both mothers and fathers.”

“Dogs?”

“Yes.”

“Elephants?”

“Yes.”

“Frogs?”

“Yes.”

“Caterpillars?”

“Yes, but a caterpillar is a stage in the life of a butterfly.”

“Butterflies aren’t born from other butterflies?”

“Not exactly. The mother lays eggs and a little tiny caterpillar hatches out.”

“Oh, yeah! The Very Hungry Caterpillar! You used to read that book to me!”

“Right! Remember the caterpillar eats and eats and eats, then makes a chrysallis. Then a butterfly hatches out of the chrysallis.”

“How does that happen?”

“Magic.”

“Where’s the dad?”

“What do you mean?”

“The mother lays eggs, but where’s the dad?”

“Hmmm…. well…. I think the mother butterfly and the father butterfly meet each other before the eggs are laid.”

“Like a date?”

“Kind of.”

“Does he get to meet them after they become butterflies?”

“Caterpillars and butterflies don’t meet their parents.”

“That’s sad.”

“Yes, life is sometimes sad.”

“How about fish? Do fish get to meet their fathers?” [pointing to a sign on a food truck that say “The Codfather.”]

“I don’t know.”

“Do fish have a caterpillar stage?”

“Fish hatch out of eggs.”

“As fish?”

“As larva. I suppose kind of like swimming caterpillars.”

“What about the mother and father. Do they visit each other first?”

“It’s called spawning. The mother lays a bunch of eggs that the dad visits.”

“That’s weird. Does the mother fish ever meet the dad?”

“You’re wearing me out.”

“What about people? How does that work?”

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This is my response to this week’s Unicorn Challenge. The Unicorn Challenge is simple — no more than 250 words based on the photo prompt.

Here you get to eavesdrop on another mother-son conversation.