Jasper and the Boll Weevil Story by Richard Meier ©2015 Illustration by C. Aaron Kreader

One morning Jasper woke up with a runny nose. “Oh,” his Mother said, “I see you have a runny nose. You must have a slight cold.

Here is a nice big white handkerchief to carry with you. Now Jasper, whenever you need to blow your nose please use the handkerchief. Now go outside and play it is such a nice day.”

But Jasper never did. He just let the snot run down his upper lip and then wiped it on his sleeve.

When Jasper came home his Mother sighed and said, “Jasper please take off your snotty shirt and I will give you a clean one.”

The next day Jasper still had a runny nose. It was summertime and his Mother gave him a short sleeved shirt to wear hoping Jasper would not want to wipe his nose on his bare arm and would use the handkerchief instead.

His Mother said, “Here is a nice big white handkerchief to carry with you. Now Jasper, whenever you need to blow your nose please use the handkerchief. Now go outside and play it is such a nice day.”

But Jasper never did. He just let the snot run down his upper lip and then wiped it on his bare arm. Sometimes he used only his left arm, sometimes only his right arm, and sometimes both arms.

He was proud of the shiny streaks of snot on his arms and showed them off to his friends.

The boys would ask, “Won’t your Mom get mad at you?” Jasper just smiled and said, “Naw.”

The girls would go, “Eeeeuuuwwww” and run away, which was fine with Jasper because he didn’t like girls.

When Jasper came home his Mother sighed. She got a warm soapy wash cloth and washed both his arms. The next day Jasper still had a runny nose.

Jasper’s Mother said, “Here is a nice big red bandana to carry with you. Now Jasper, whenever you need to blow your nose please use the bandana. Now go outside and play it is such a nice day.”

But Jasper never did. He just let the snot run down his upper lip and then wiped it on his bare arm.

Towards the end of the day Jasper found himself in a field full of cotton. The buds were just beginning to bloom. And some of the buds were being eaten by boll weevils.

Jasper noticed one boll weevil had a yellow streak down its back just like the yellow streak of snot on his arm. So he picked up the boll weevil and put it in his nose. It quickly crawled up inside his nose.

When Jasper came home his Mother sighed. She got a warm soapy wash cloth and washed both his arms.

The next day Jasper did not have a runny nose. During the night the boll weevil had eaten all of the snot. It had changed into a snot weevil. His Mother was very happy thinking his cold had passed. She gave him a long sleeved shirt and sent him out to play.

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Pretty soon Jasper could not breathe through his nose. He tried blowing his nose, but it was completely stopped up. The snot weevil continued to eat Jasper’s snot. And grew. And grew.

When he came home for lunch and told his Mom, she looked up his nose with a pen- light and saw the tail of the snot weevil. It was black with a yel- low streak in the middle. She did not know what it was so she decided to take Jasper to the doctor.

The doctor looked inside his nose and said, “It looks like there is a boll weevil in your nose, Jasper. How do you suppose that happened?”

Jasper said, “I saw he had a yellow streak on its back like the streak of snot on my arm, so I just put it in my nose.”

The doctor laughed and said, “Well, Jasper, it looks like the weevil has consumed all the mucus in your nasal cavity and grown so big you cannot breathe through your nose. We will just have to remove the weevil.” So the doctor got a tiny pair of forceps and gently coaxed the snot weevil from Jasper’s nose, put it in jar and gave it to Jasper to take home.

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Jasper kept the snot weevil on a shelf in his room. It lived for many years by eating pieces of fruit. And whenever Jasper got a cold he always used a handkerchief.