On a bush in the front yard sprawls a moth the size of a cat. Mostly wing, of course, but with a plump furry body, big as a robin. Bigger. It looks limp, too exhausted to fly.

A woman picks it up and shows us the legs and body. She carries it to the much sunnier back yard, where there are flowers, and lays it upside down on the lawn, "to see if it can right itself."

The moth starts crying, a thin high wail of misery. I right it. Stops crying, but just sits on the grass panting, exhausted. Sick or just starving?

That I can test. I lift it up to the flowers on the back fence. It perks up, but isn't strong enough to climb stalks and feed. Can I mix up some honey-water or fruit juice, like for a stunned hummingbird? It may be dehydrated, not just starving and exhausted...

...and I wake.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Crying creature slow to recover: I'm reading Lord Of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay, his version of Byzantium. Alixana needs to grieve her husband's death; you don't heal from that overnight.
• Giant moth: Science News said atmospheric oxygen limits maximum insect size. Hotter, wetter eras, with lush vegetation, generated more oxygen than now. No wonder giant bugs could fly! Obvious implications for pterosaurs too. The air was supercharged! A giant moth from the lush eras would feel sick and drained in our stingy, low-oxygen air.
• I'm the moth, of course: I never got my college degree due to illness. Now I've gone back to finish... while I'm still sick! Improved, but enough? I'm still violently sensitive to resins and volatiles outgassed from circuit boards, not to mention many art materials. This week alone, I got poisoned at school twice.
• ACTION 1: drink extra water, take antivirals, and face that healing from a long illness won't be fast. Even if I keep my health gains, deep habits that ensured survival when very sick may now hold me back.
• ACTION 2: Patience with my despair, too. Long pain takes time to mourn. I was helpless for years; I won't unlearn that overnight.

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