Prologue

And the butterfly flew high, soaring into the air. She wasn't thinking thoughts, per say, but more like water trickling through her body. Not quite emotions, either, just a flowing of peace. Just enjoying the cool wind kissing her wings softly. The sun seemed larger than usual, on this day in midsummer. But that was good, the warmth it provided was greatly welcomed by all the inhabitants of the area. Even though the sun was gentle that day, and not ruthless like it had been last summer, her wings and her back were just a little too warm for her taste. She decided to take a break in the shade of her favorite tree. As she glided smoothly over to a twig, she fluttered her wings ever so slightly, and the sun glanced across them. This caught the eye of a male butterfly, and he flew over to her, obviously attracted to the gossamer scales on her wings. He landed next to her on the twig, which was very unstable even before the first butterfly landed on it, and it started to bend dangerously. The male felt uncomfortable in the position he had landed in, so he popped up for a bit and landed again, rearanging his wings and feet, much like butterflies do. But this was too much for the twig. And so, with that final straw that broke the camel's back, the twig snapped and fell to the ground with a polite little thump inaudible to humans. The new couple flew away into the distance. After a few weeks, the twig started to change.
The twig didn't look much like a twig after the strange Australian bacteria was through with it. Ah, but how did this alien growth from around the world get on it in the first place? It was the butterfly, the male one. He was a common breed in Australia, but very rare in Canada, where he infected the twig with the bug that clung to his feet for a very long airplane ride. An etymologist had brought him over especially for observing. But, being a butterfly, and a very pretty one at that, the scientist's son thought it a good idea to take him out of his netted dome to watch him fly. But that's not where the twig's story ends.
Looking rather fuzzy from the growth, an old owl saw it and thought it looked much like a fat, slow mouse, ripe for the pickings. He swooped down, scooped it in his beak, and swallowed it in one gulp. Only then did the owl realize that it wasn't a mouse. He started choking on the moldy twig, but it didn't do any good because it was already too far down his throat. When he was done gagging, he decided it wasn't that bad anyways, so he flew back to the crevice in the big black oak he called home. But it wasn't okay. The bacteria infected him and he became very sick. He didn't die though. Because then the story would end, and we couldn't have that. He went out flying, even during the day. Every day and every night, he'd fly, not to any specific place, but just wandering into nowhere. He found his way out to a lighthouse in San Francisco. He then proceeded to crash into the light. Unfortunately, this was a very foggy day, and the dock was very hard to see at this time of night without the light.
And thus, this bacteria from Australia traveled on the feet of one butterfly to Canada where it infected a dead twig and was swallowed by an old owl who crashed into a lighthouse very far south from his home. But that's not the end...
A very large oil tanker coming in to San Francisco didn't see the light warning ships of land. It crashed on a rock and hundreds of gallons of oil spilled out into the sea. A salmon swam out into the oil, got slicked, and attempted to swim away from the slippery substance. As she was making her way, slowly but steadily, to cleaner water, a fisherman scooped her up in his net. The unfortunate fish was cleaned and sold to a restaurant nearby Fisherman's Wharf and eaten by a young girl of the age of 15. Her name was Vanesa. This is her story.