l i f e
grasshopper
contributions
christopher@30seconds.org
Joe had never been that far into the yard before, down the narrow path leading to the back. The trees shaded the entire area and the grass was swapped for moist leaves and dirt. It smelled of earthworms and Joe had places like this of his own back at the lake where he would pull bait from the ground, enough to fuel a whole days worth of fishing. The back fence was covered with ivy so thick there was no fence at all but rather a green wall smelling of heavy waxed leaves saturated with oil, a natural perfume that to smell closely would cause nothing but sneezes. In fact it was Joe's sneezing that stirred the grasshopper out from deep within the ivy. It flew right into the side of his head so hard it bounced off and landed on the ground, stunned. Joe bent down and caught him before it could catch its senses, and for a few strange moments he simply stood there, with the grasshopper in the palm of his hand, half wishing he had never caught it in the first place. He could feel it squirming around, and he realized how fragile it must be, not like the hardshelled buzz bombs he had imagined. He opened a little circle in his hand, peeked in real close, had a good eye to eye with his first and only grasshopper, and let it go, to fly away over the ivy fence and into the other world beyond.
goodnight 7.14.98
