Of all the creatures Under the Big Blue Sky perhaps none was a better friend to the beautiful red roses than Ladybug. Every morning Ladybug would put on her reddish and black-spotted coat. After smoothing out her wings in the mirror, she would fly out her door to go to work in the rose gardens.

Once she arrived at the gardens she would put down her lunchbox and go immediately to work. From morning until mid-day she worked very hard looking for the harmful insect pests known as aphids that like to eat roses. "A ha!" she would exclaim when she would spot one chewing and munching on a tender red petal or stem, "it's you again! And you've brought more of your friends, have you?"

Then Ladybug would do a very un-ladylike thing. "Well, take this!" she would shout, and she would begin to flutter her wings with a great flurry and "Biff!" and "Bapp!" the harmful aphids would scurry off in dismay feeling greatly ashamed.

And so Ladybug worked from dawn until dusk to protect the beautiful, defenseless roses from the hurtful pests. The roses were very grateful to have such a fine friend as Ladybug. They would nod and sway approvingly in a very lovely way to show their appreciation. If a new rose arrived at the garden and needed attention, Ladybug always arose to the occasion and gave extra-special care.

This made the roses very happy. Murmuring among themselves as Ladybug flew by, they would let out a great big sigh and the air would be filled with the sweetest fragrance. "Very good!" Ladybug would exclaim. Pulling out her clipboard and pencil, she would cross off the words in big capital letters, "MAKE ROSES HAPPY TODAY from her list of things to do.

But the aphids were still very bad. No matter how ashamed they would feel the day before when Ladybug would chase them away, they always seemed to have short-term memory problems. If she turned her wings for a minute, they would go back to their naughty tricks without a moment's thought. Ladybug would just sigh to herself for she knew that if a rose was but a rose, then a pest was merely but a pest.

One evening at the end of a hard day, Ladybug stopped in at the Mint Leaf Café to have a rest. Traffic had been especially bad and she was tired. To make matters worse, big drops of rain had been falling on her all day. A cold wind blew outside and suddenly Ladybug let out a big sneeze, "Achoo!".

"Bless you," said a waitress nearby offering a napkin.

"Thag you," said Ladybug, and then she realized that she was coming down with a cold! But Ladybug like most folks hates to think that she could be getting sick and doesn't like to admit it. So she said a little bit louder, "THAG YOU!" But then she felt sheepish because her nose was stuffy and she knew that she was getting sick.

"You're welcome!" exclaimed the waitress pretending not to notice. And she gave Ladybug some hot ginger tea to settle her stomach, and clear her head. Feeling refreshed, Ladybug wended her way home.

Hanging up her coat, she went to sit in her enclosed candle-lit porch made of cobbled stone to work on her greatest love; a 5000 piece puzzle of Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun was a great Pharaoh, or king, who ruled the land of Egypt many moons ago. Tutankhamun or "King Tut" as his friends called him, had been known as the Boy King because he was crowned ruler of all Egypt and the great Nile --the mighty river that flows through Egypt-- when he was very young.

Ladybug thought that he must have been a very smart boy to rule an entire country. Patiently -piece by piece-Ladybug worked on putting together the fine features of the pharaoh, but she had a headache and her nose was running. She became very sad.

"Between those pesky aphids and two hours on the road just to get to work, I'll never be able to finish this puzzle!" And as she thought of this some more, she became sadder. The puzzle piece she was holding, and couldn't find a home for, began to feel very, very heavy. No matter how hard she looked she just couldn't make it fit anywhere.

With a soft sigh, and a box of tissues under her arm, Ladybug got up from the table, and crawled into bed. For a while she lay under the covers and thought about King Tut and the beautiful land of Egypt with its Valley of Kings and pyramids and mysterious Sphinx.

"I bet King Tut could have finished that puzzle by now," she said to herself, forlornly. Closing her eyes, Ladybug fell asleep.

The next morning it was still raining, but the drops were bigger and the temperature was even colder then the day before. "Achoo!" sneezed Ladybug waking herself up. Then she remembered that she had a cold. Try as she did, Ladybug couldn't get herself to go to work. Every move she made would either make her sniffle, snuzzle or sneeze. Finally, she gave up and went back to bed. A few hours later she woke up. She thought she could at least work on piecing together King Tut's royal nose, but she couldn't get herself to get out of bed.

Meanwhile, as it rained, the nasty aphids were very happy at the rose garden. With no Ladybug around to swat them they could be naughty and "Munch! Munch! Munch!" on the tender leaves and stems of the red roses. Lunch time passed, and still the Defender of the Roses was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes!" cried out one nasty aphid joyfully. "We can finally be left in peace and munch happily!"

"Pure heaven!" agreed his insect friend. But the poor roses were very sad, and the blades of grass at their feet looked up at them kindly, wishing they could help. Dinnertime came and went, but no Ladybug. And still it rained.

At last, the very youngest aphid spoke up timidly, "I haven't been Biffed! in ten hours by that Ladybug," he said. "Somehow, things don't seem the same around here." But all of the other aphids pretended that they hadn't heard him, and tried to munch louder.

But then as they munched something happened to them. They began to look at the roses for the first time and notice their beautiful red petals. Taking notice, the roses let out a big sigh and filled the noses of the aphids with the sweetest smell. And as if in a dream, one by one, the aphids stopped munching.

"I kind of liked being "Biffed" by that Ladybug lady," volunteered one old-timer. Slowly each aphid confessed that something was wrong. And soon all of the aphids were in agreement that while it had been a very exciting day of eating rose stems --almost a national holiday of sorts-- it just wasn't any fun if they weren't going to be chased or yelled at for doing it.

Before long, the insects all huzzled and buzzled together for a group meeting, and stopping by the Mint Leaf Café for directions, they were soon all gathered inside of Ladybug's room as she lay in bed snoring. On her blankets, were crumpled-up tissues. On her night stand was a melting bag of ice. Beside the bag of ice was the doctor's prescription for four cups of blackberry tea a day.

The aphids then felt very, very ashamed at being so naughty and they began to creep away softly to hide from Ladybug. But the youngest aphid spotted the puzzle of Tutankhamun, and picking up a piece with a critical eye, he completed the royal mouth. Then he picked up two pieces and completed the royal ear lobe. The other aphids began to notice. They became very excited and industrious. Within hours they had completed the royal cheeks and eyebrows, and the rest of the entire puzzle!

At last, the gleaming youthful face of King Tut glimmered and sparkled from the top of Ladybug's table like a polished band of gold. All but one piece was left. Struggling mightily, the youngest aphid flew with the last piece of the royal nose and dropped it from the air. It landed softly on the covers beside the still-snoring Ladybug.

"Bapp!" he said, and flew back to the rose garden for a late-night snack.