the grasshopper
did not go to the coffee shop expecting to make a friend, (though this is certainly the frame of mind in which one is the most likely to make a friend).
He was green
and they were giants.
Also, he preferred tea to coffee, but this did not stop him.
He was a friendly sort, and did not take to heart
the shrieks of lady patrons.
it was a beautiful sunny day, and he was wearing his new spectacles,
so the world was crisp and bright.
He went merrily along the patio, his abdomen warmed by the pavement, and he relished being alive, more so than usual.
However, he came to a table at which sat what appeared to the small adventuring hopper to be the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. It may have been the golden sunlight, or the way her glasses reflected her smiling eyes, or the orange-sun glow of her brown hair. It may have been any one of these things. It did not matter a gnat knee. He had no words. He was a man (relatively speaking) of words. He chewed and tasted them like the finest tomato vine. He wanted to sing to her, but his mouth would not make words, and certainly not music. He gaped. The grasshopper, whose name was Reginald, proceeded toward the girl's table with shy curiosity.
He decided that the best thing to do was to broach the issue of an introduction, so that he did not have the opportunity to falter. Being a much smaller species, Reginald bounded up the back of the girl's chair, and reaching the top, cleared his throat. The girl did not move.
She was reading what would be her favorite book. Reginald cleared his throat again, and bowed. The girl did not even blink. In her book, the protagonist was hanging by two fingers from a ledge outside of his beloved's prison. She heard nothing.
Reginald, whose resolve was fading, did something desperate. He, with his heart brimming, jumped, and landed on the girl's glasses. The girl then did what a great many free-thinking and rational girls would do under the circumstances. She screamed. The blast from the scream wrinkled Reginald's face skin, the decibles issuing from her perfect mouth wrapped around his every organ and shook his insides mercilessly. He had not thought this far ahead. Reginald remained calm. The girl, seeing that he was not trying to chew upon her face, began to relax her defensive posture.
Reginald stared. The girl stared. They both stared in order to ascertain the intentions of the other. Reginald discovered more from his staring, since the girl's face was considerably larger, and thus easier to read. The girl found that the green grasshopper was curious and friendly.
"Would you like some coffee?" the girl offered. She had taken manners classes, and knew that eating or drinking something with a new friend was a good way to solidify the connection - plus it was pleasant to share food and drink on a sunny day.
Reginald nodded. He did not care for coffee. But she was beautiful, and he thought his coffee indifference an unimportant detail at the time. He sat on the table across from her, his green legs folded.
to be continued...
