Read carefully because I’m about to give away one of my signature moves.

Courting a Ms. B_______ (now Mrs. K______ [P.S. My last name is H____]) one summer, we decided it would be a lark to go to the Detroit Zoo’s Butterfly House. Though I was aware that there was a moratorium against touching any of the rainbow’d beauties, there also was a strong anti-moratorium for hooking up with Mrs. B. Then I realized I could circumvent the entire zoo bylaws and awe Ms. B. by exploiting, romantically, my keen sense of entomology.

We were walking around the house of insects (and hummingbirds) when Ms. B remarks that she wishes – oh, how she wishes! – that a butterfly would land on us. That’s when I pull out my precious fluid: A water bottle filled with sugar water.

I apply it liberally to my hair, arms and face until I am radiant with a sweetness known only by Shirley Temple on Ecstasy. A Monarch butterfly then settles its wings on my head, an Orange-Barred Sulphur on my arms and, moments later, an Anise Swallowtail’s proboscis explores my lips (and, perhaps, Ms. B’s version of the same will later?).

It was, as they say at a magic show, magic.

Capture this same magic by visiting the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s Robinsons-May Pavilion of Wings.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Blvd. in Los Angeles, (213) 763-3466. Exhibit hours: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. and Sun. For more information, visit www.nhm.org. Price: $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, $1 for children ages 5 to 12.