Aaron and the Grasshopper

            Aaron sat on the dusty bench looking over the fence at the barrel races going on in the arena.  He was waiting for the bucking broncos, which was his favorite event, and was getting a little antsy.

            Suddenly, he spied a large grasshopper crawling along the fence in front of him.  He had never seen such a big grasshopper before.  For a moment he simply watched the grasshopper completely fascinated, and then he decided he just had to catch it.

            His first attempt to catch the grasshopper involved a dive in the grasshopper’s direction that simply sent the grasshopper hopping to a new location.  Then he decided he would have to be sneakier if he wanted to catch it.  He very carefully and very quietly stalked toward the grasshopper’s new position.  Right when he was just inches from having his hands on the grasshopper, the grasshopper leaped to a place just out of Aaron’s reach.  Frustrated, Aaron stomped the ground, but he wasn’t ready to give up the chase.

            Aaron found a stick long enough to reach where the grasshopper had landed.  The grasshopper leaped to a new spot that was in Aaron’s reach.  Aaron slowly crept up with his hands outstretched.  Right before he clasped his hands around the grasshopper, it leaped to a new position.  Aaron began to creep up to the grasshopper again.  This time when the grasshopper leaped a strong gust of wind swept through and blew the grasshopper back in Aaron’s direction.  It landed on his neck.

            Having a grasshopper in his hands was okay, but having a grasshopper on his neck was a different matter.  Aaron began to swat and twirl and bat at the air trying to get the grasshopper off of his neck.  He looked like he was having some sort of wild mad fit.  In the midst of his fit, Aaron did not realize how close to the wooden post of the fence he was until it was too late.  He smacked his face into the post busting his lip.  At that point the grasshopper leaped off of his neck and onto the fence.

            Aaron sat back on the ground and wiped the blood from his busted lip onto his sleeve.  For a moment, he just sat there stunned by the blow to his mouth.  When he looked up, the grasshopper was sitting on the fence.  Aaron swore he thought the grasshopper was taunting him.  Part of him wanted to continue the chase and show that grasshopper who was the boss.  However, the rest of him had had enough of this chase and wanted to go sit back down to wait for the bucking broncos.  He decided this chase wasn’t worth it and went back to his seat on the bench.  That grasshopper could stay on that fence for as long as it wanted as far as Aaron was concerned.  He was done.

Katarina's Close Call

           Katarina hung on the limb right next to the bottom of the Christmas tree.  Her wings had become tangled in the string of lights when the child had played with her right before bedtime.  Now every person in the house was asleep.  It was time for all the Christmas ornaments to come to life.

            Katarina grabbed the string of lights and pulled herself free of both the limb and the string of lights.  She was careful to leave her hook exactly where it was.  If she went exploring, she would need to be sure she could get back in place before morning.  Ornaments that loose their hook sometimes end up on the floor where the cat can get them.  Katarina did not want that to happen to her.

            She lowered herself onto the tallest present right under her branch.  She had been so excited when the people put that present under the tree during the day.  She knew that with that present right under her branch, she would be able to climb down to the floor.  This was the first time this Christmas season that she had been given that opportunity, and she meant to make the most of it.

            When she reached the floor, the first place she went was the front door.  Next to the front door the child had left a raincoat and hat.  Katarina had watched the child pull them off and lay them there.  Katarina rubbed the smooth surface of the raincoat.  She really liked the rubbery feel of the boots.  After a few minutes, she made her way to the child’s room.  The child had a castle Katarina wanted to explore.  She had watched the child open that present last year and had waited an entire year to go see it for herself.

            The castle loomed before her as she stood trying to decide where to go first.  She decided to climb to the top of the tower.  From this point she could see all of the child’s room.  She could see the child’s foot hanging over the side of the bed.  Then she saw the cat’s tail swishing over the side of the bed.  The cat was awake.  Katarina very carefully climbed down from the tower of the castle trying to make as little noise as possible.  Before she made it to the bottom floor of the castle, she spotted the cat’s eyes staring at her through one of the windows of the castle.  For a moment she stood frozen in place unable to move for fear.  The cat simply stared at her swishing his tail.

            Finally when she could stand it no longer, Katarina made a dash for the door of the child’s room, but the cat cut her off.  Everywhere Katarina tried to run, the cat pounced in front of her.  He obviously wanted to play with her for a while before he tried to eat her.  Then Katarina dived under a baby doll blanket the child had left on the floor.  The cat pounced on the blanket, but the blanket protected Katarina from the cat’s claws.  Katarina remained as still as possible even though the material made her itch.  She knew if she kept still long enough, the cat would lose interest and go away.  It seemed like an eternity before the cat finally jumped up on the bed and started playing with a toy the child had left on the bed.

            Katarina very slowly peeked out from under the blanket.  By this time, she itched all over but still resisted the urge to scratch.  The cat was looking the other way.  Katarina dashed out from under the blanket and hid behind a leg of the nightstand.  The cat continued to play with the toy.  The door to the child’s room was only a few feet from where she hid.  She waited until the cat became extremely involved with the toy and then made a dash for the open door.  She ran as hard as she could back to the Christmas tree without looking back once.  If the cat was chasing her, she really didn’t want to know it. 

            When she reached the present under her branch, she climbed it with one big bound.  Then she climbed back onto her limb and slowly lowered herself back onto her hook.  She was home.  As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered what wonders lay in the presents now under the tree that the child would open tomorrow on Christmas morn.  However, she would wait until next Christmas to go exploring again.  She had had enough excitement for one Christmas season.