A CLOSE CALL FOR BILLY

Little Billy Cricket peered out of the nest to see if anyone was nearby. You had to be careful when leaving the nest because of all the danger lurking in the Green Expanse. When he had lived at home he would usually grab one of his younger brothers and throw him out just to make sure it was safe before venturing past the doorway. Of course, he wouldn’t do such a thing now since he was much more mature.
Now that it was getting to be summer, that Fenimore kid had been sighted more often in the area and everyone was on the lookout. It looked okay, so he decided to take a chance and scurry over to a nearby pile of twigs. Once there, he felt safe to move around since he could see better in all directions and would have ample warning of any danger.
The sun had been up over the trees for awhile….long enough to warm things up and dry the dew off the plants. Little Billy walked under the bush where Rafael Spider lived and looked up to see him hard at work on his web. He had the neatest web on the bush, and with good reason since he was a hard working spider. He was also quite organized with his store of aphids neatly piled up in one corner of his web. They were the appetizers…..the main courses were individually wrapped in another corner.
‘That web sure is more tidy than Latimers and my nest’ thought Billy. You could barely find anything in their mess and they had only been living there for a couple of weeks. He was embarrassed to have any friends over for a visit. Little Billy made a mental note to discuss it with Latimer when he got home.
Out of the corner of his eye, Little Billy saw a movement and he caught his breath. ’Oh, thank goodness! It’s only Franklin Centipede out for a walk.’ Relieved, Billy decided to follow Franklin for awhile and see where he was headed. After all, what else did he have to do today? Other than looking for food, he didn’t really have much to do although he was quite socially active.
It was very fascinating to watch Franklin walk with all his legs going in a continuous wave of motion. Now, that is true grace and such a thrill to see….Billy was impressed.
All of a sudden Franklin stubbed one of his feet on a small tuft of grass barely visible through the dirt. This set up a chain reaction of legs going totally out of sync with each other and Franklin almost veering off into a large stick, which would most certainly have scraped him badly. Embarrassed, Franklin quickly looked around to see if anyone had witnessed his clumsiness. He didn’t notice Billy, who had ducked behind a fern to spare Franklin his ego. ‘After all, we insects have a reputation of graceful movement derived from eons of evolution to live up to.’ thought a wise beyond his years Billy.
As Franklin regained his dignity and moved on down the trail, Little Billy started off on another tangent and on to new adventures. And as luck would have it, he shortly came across a strange and wondrous object looming up in front of him. Wide eyed, he studied it from top to bottom and from side to side. It had very smooth sides and appeared to be a large box made up of multicolored rectangles. It had a number of openings in it, with one large opening at the base of one side that Billy easily walked through.
‘It smells very good in here,’ thought Billy. ‘Like the wild strawberries I ran across one day.’ There were a number of spots that were very sticky and covered parts of the rectangles. Billy was soon licking the side of a green rectangle and was enjoying the good tasting treat. ‘Now this would be the perfect place to live. Nice and clean and if you get hungry you can just lick the walls!’
All at once the green rectangle, and in fact the whole structure, was suddenly lifted into the air leaving Little Billy in mid lick. “What the heck??” Billys’ eyes followed the object disappearing into the sky and as it grew smaller he could see the reason why it had decided to defy the laws of gravity. It was the Fenimore kid and Little Billy was on the verge of becoming his next victim.
Little Billy did two things simultaneously……..one he hadn’t done since he was a baby and not toilet trained….and the other was to do a quick one eighty and start racing towards the safety of home.
“Hey! There are those Legos I was missing.” Little Bobby examined the block building and noticed the sticky spots on the sides. “That must be from that jam sandwich I was eating the day I put this together. It’s a wonder the bugs didn’t find it.”

SLIDE!!!!!

Leroy Dung Beetle struggled to get over the large twig that lay in his path. The storm from the night before had left a lot of debris everywhere, but he could see that he was not the only one having difficulties. Conrad Beetle was also having a hard time negotiating the obstacles in his path. It didn’t help that he had a bum leg from the little episode that had happened just that morning…
It had started out to be a good day…the sun was shining and Conrad was feeling good. Only the day before he had run into an old girlfriend and they had reminisced about the old days. She was meeting him this fine morning for a quiet breakfast of aphids and to continue their conversation. Conrad was getting sweaty feelers and he felt a little twinge deep inside as he thought of the possibilities of a newly rekindled relationship.
“Ow!!” Conrad banged his knee on a rock that he hadn’t noticed while daydreaming about the past events. He stopped walking and rubbed his knee. Soon the pain subsided and he continued stumbling along, while once again thinking
Leroy waved to his cousin, but apparently Conrad was lost in thought, because he didn’t seem to notice his wave. “Oh well, I’ll probably run into him later.” When you are a bug and wander around aimlessly day after day, you usually run into someone you know on a regular basis. But Leroy wasn’t complaining because he figured it could always be worse. He had heard about some poor defenseless potato bugs being harassed down by the Gray Expanse. Seems like it was always something around here.
He continued up and over other twigs and bits of debris in search of his ultimate goal…..that of finding a chunk of dung to bug handle back to the nest. His family was proud of his ability to provide for them and he didn’t want to disappoint them. However, it was getting harder and harder to find good dung that was close to the nest. If he has to go much further afield, he may have to pack up the family and move away from all their friends. It will be hardest on the children, he sadly thought to himself.
If I would have been just a little quicker, I could have taken that guy, thought Conrad. He couldn’t help but keep running this mornings encounter over and over in his mind, thinking about what he could have said or done. How could he have known his old girlfriend had just broken up with a jealous maniac who had no qualms about putting anyone in the bug hospital that even looked at her cross eyed? Well….He couldn’t, which would explain how he had ended up on the ground with one of his legs bent up and over his back. He had gotten out of the guys grip only because the girlfriend had distracted the wild beetle long enough for him to make a break.
So now he had a bum leg, no breakfast, no prospects of a rekindled relationship, and he had to limp home over a wasteland in a bummed out mood. The day was not going well for Conrad Beetle.
As for Leroy, he had just come up against the biggest pile of dung he had ever seen in his life. It appeared to be shaped like a huge round disc and had never seen one quite like it. ‘This is going to be a job getting it back to the nest…..it’ll take a lot of trips to pack this baby out.’ he thought to himself. He climbed up onto the dung disc and started walking out to the middle so he could plan on how to cut it up. He didn’t get far before he heard a thumping noise coming up quick behind him.
He spun around and his jaw dropped as he saw a horrific sight coming towards him. It was a tremendous wall of white approaching at a high rate of speed. Before he could blink, it was upon him and driving him into the pile of dung. He could tell that he and his whole world was moving the same direction as the white wall, even though he was buried deep inside the pile. Slowly, the pile and Leroy came to a stop. It took a few minutes for him to regain his senses and to start digging up out of the pile.
“OH MAN!! LOOK AT MY SHOE!!!” Little Bobby could tell right away that his new pair of Red Ball Jets had just been broken in and broken in hard, and on his first slide of the game at that. “I was going to wear these to school tomorrow,” he said getting to his feet. “Dang it! I wish we had regular bases instead of these stupid cow pies.”
Finally reaching the top of the dung pile, Leroy got to his feet and looked around trying to get his bearings. “Hey!……this place looks kind of familiar!!” Down at the base of the dung pile he could see his wife and kids waving and running towards him. By some miracle he and the entire pile of dung had practically been delivered right to his very own doorstep. The family won’t have to move now. Little tears of joy were trickling down his cheeks as he climbed down to join his happy little family.


(The part of Conrad Beetle was played by Jose’ Cricket)

It was a cloudy night and the air was very still. Latimer Beetle could feel trouble in the air. ‘I don’t like nights like this,’ he thought to himself. ‘You never know what may happen.’ Latimer was riding herd over about two hundred head of lady bugs. Hiram Potato Bug had hired him to take the lady bugs down to the lower pasture. He had a contract with Tobias Caterpillar to supply him with lady bugs to pull his freight wagons.
Tobias had a good business supplying the other bugs with dried aphids for their winter stores. You can’t hibernate all winter without a good stockpile of dried aphids on hand. It took a team of eight lady bugs to pull the heavy wagons across the green expanse to fill the orders. Tobias made a good living doing this and also helped out a lot of his family members by giving them a job.
The herd was on edge and reacted as one to any unexpected noise. So, it was no wonder that when the lightning lit up the sky and the loud clap of thunder followed, the herd was immediately on the run. Latimer first heard the thunder from above and then the thunder of all the feet of two hundred bugs coming directly towards him.
In the ensuing chaos Latimer lost all control of his bodily functions as he scrambled out of the way of the stampede. All his ramrod experience went out the window and he could only watch as the entire herd, that was under his care, quickly disappeared into the darkness. ‘Oh, great.’ thought Latimer, ‘This is all I need. I’m in trouble now!’
He started running after the herd. He had no problem tracking them because everything in their path had been trampled down. After awhile he tired and slowed to a walk. He could see it would be impossible for him to catch up to the herd, so he decided to just stay put for the night and rest. He would certainly hear it from Hiram in the morning when he had to explain what happened.
He hadn’t been there for more than five minutes when he again heard thunder. ‘That’s funny,’ he thought. ‘ I didn’t see any lightning.’ He soon saw the reason for that! The herd had circled around and was heading straight back towards him. “YIKES!!!” He exclaimed to no one in particular. Latimer apparently had forgotten how tired he was because he started racing back up the trail with two hundred ladybugs hot on his heels.
It got to the point that he could run no further and he slowed. Thankfully, the herd did the same and came to a standstill just before reaching Latimer. He panted as he looked over the milling animals. ‘Well, I think I handled that pretty good’ he thought to himself.

Little Bobby Exposed

Mortimer Earwig was doing what he did best..........wandering aimlessly looking for food. He had gotten on large wooden platform and was walking first one way and then another and then back around to where he had started. That's the way most bugs operated since it was hard to tell direction when you were just a few millimeters off the ground. He was pretty sure that there was no food around here since he had looked for hours, so he decided to head back towards the green meadow. Mortimer knew how to get back..........he would simply retrace his steps.
Little Billy Cricket was through chirping for the morning and was heading back home for lunch when he ran across Louise Beetle walking up the trail. "Hi Louise!" shouted Little Billy excitedly. Louise ran over to Billy and they rubbed feelers. "Boy, it's good to see you again." said Billy. "How have you been?" "Oh, fine. I finally have a day off from work and was going down to the river to get some greens for Mom."
"I saw Latimer and he told me you were working at the bugcare center. How is your job going?" "Well, let me tell you," said Louise. " It's not all fun and games. Like the other day, Mabel Ant brought over about a hundred kids and it was all I could do to just keep an eye on all of them. Then they all had to be fed, and do you know how hard it is to get them all to take a nap? Well, it's pretty much impossible. Either they are talking and laughing or they're fighting with each other. And, beings they are sugar ants, they are pretty wound up most of the time. I'm glad I finally got a day off. One more day of that and I might have been frustrated enough to step on a couple of them."
"Wow," said Billy. "And, I thought I had it tough. I don't think I would have the temperment to work at that place." It looked like Louise had lost a little weight since he had last seen her. She still looks about the same other than that, he thought to himself. "We should get together for lunch some day," said Billy. "We could catch up on old times"
They had been so excited about seeing each other that they hadn't noticed Little Bobby Fenimore coming out of the house. He was wearing his swimming trunks since it was so warm. It would never be so warm that he wouldn't wear a t-shirt and socks and shoes, however. He had come out to sit on the front porch and snap beans for his grandmother. Boy, I love to snap beans, he thought to himself. It's kind of like breaking things, but it's o.k. to do. My kind of job!!
Mortimer Earwig had retraced his steps and had finally gotten to the ledge overlooking the green meadow. He hadn't noticed this soft fabric on his way up........apparently his mind was elsewhere at the time. Maybe there is some food around here, he thought. With that he crawled into the folds of the fabric and started looking around. It was getting darker the farther he ventured inside.
"HOLY CRAP!!!!!!" Little Bobby jumped up and pulled his swimming trunks down so he could brush the bug off him. Mortimer went flying out towards the green meadow during the melee. Little Bobby suddenly remembered where he was and pulled up his trunks. He dashed up the stairs and into the house so he could get to the privacy of the bathroom and search for more bugs. I sure hope nobody saw me, he thought as he ran.
Little Billy had seen the whole thing and was practically in a state of shock from the disturbing sight he had just witnessed. "Louise!!" He exclaimed. "What the heck was that?!?!" His head turned to look at Louise and noticed that she was looking at him in a curious way.
Mortimer hit the ground and rolled over a few times. Good grief, I hate being a bug. First, you're minding your own business looking for food and the next thing you know you are flying through the air for no reason. I think I'll go hide under this rock for awhile.

The Scourge Of Rock Island

“When I catch up to that Russell, he is going to get a serious chewing out by me!” said Mavis Earwig out loud. She was steamed. “He knows I have a hard time keeping up with him. If he thinks I’m going to be speaking to him after leaving me behind for the umpteenth time, then he’s got another think coming.” Mavis doesn’t take this kind of inconsiderate treatment lightly.
Mavis kept trudging along….up over dirt clods and then down into the depressions made by the rain dripping from the trees that lined the river. Going through the rough terrain didn’t improve her disposition any, either. “Boy, is that Russell going to get it!”
Russell was almost to the top of the big log by this time. He stopped just short of the summit and looked back towards the trail from which he had come. “Oh, man,” said Russell, “Mavis is nowhere in sight! I’m really going to hear about this later, I’ll wager. Well, it’s her own fault……always stopping and gawking at everything along the trail. I guess there’s no sense in worrying about it now, I’m already in trouble. I might as well go on and wait for her at the feeding grounds.”
He couldn’t wait to get to the feeding grounds. That’s where all the tender areas were in the log…..easy to get at some good soft wood to chew on. “Mmmmmmm!” He was getting those rumbling sounds in his tummy. “Well, Mavis will just have to be mad….I’m hungry! If we don’t hurry up and get there before the crowd gathers, it’s going to be pincer to pincer.” And with that he started moving even faster towards his goal at the other end of the big log.
“”Finally, the Big Log!!” Mavis said sarcastically. “Big deal! There are about a hundred other logs in the woods that are just as good as this one, and about ten times easier to get to. I don’t know why Russell insists on coming to this one every time we go out to eat. When I catch up to him, I’m going to give him such a pinch!!”
“Well, I might as well get started up this stupid log. If I don’t beat the crowd to the feeding ground, He’s going to say I’m to blame for being late, and that would take the edge off me being mad. I can’t have that, so I’d better hurry.” Up and up she climbed, past the same twigs and mossy areas that she always passed when they came up here.
She finally reached the top and started on the long walk to the other end where the GOOD SPOT was. Whoopee, she could hardly wait. She was really in a sarcastic mood now. And, she was going to take every bit of it out on Russell.
As she neared the end of the log, she noticed a large wet area that sometimes appeared on this portion of the log. It usually happened on hot summer days, although she didn’t know why. It didn’t hamper her progress any…..that’s how mad at Russell she was. But now, along with the wet spot, she also felt the presence of a twig moving in her direction. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it just before it struck her in the side and sent her rolling towards the end of the log.
She caught herself just before she tumbled over the brink and into the great unknown below. “Wow! That was lucky that I grabbed hold of this piece of bark! Oh, no!!! Here it comes again!” It stopped short of hitting her and instead just pushed up against her and flicked her out into space. She fell for a long ways but didn’t pick up a lot of speed because she was so light. “Thank goodness for that,” she thought just before she hit the water.
Well, she had finally found Russell…here he is down here treading water with a large variety of other bugs. She started paddling towards Russell. “Boy, is he going to get it this time!!”
“I’m getting bored with this.” thought Little Bobby. Flipping bugs off the log was fun for awhile, but not as much fun as being in the water on a hot day. Little Bobby had been in the water earlier but his inner tube had gotten a hole in it and now lay lifeless beside the big log. He knew there was a tire patch kit in the garage, but he had used all the glue playing with some ants.
“I know!!” he exclaimed, “I have half a tube of airplane glue left from my last model. If that stuff can hold on a bandage, it should hold on a tire patch.” Little Bobby grabbed the inner tube and started trudging back home to try out his theory.

Angelo...Bumblebee Extrordinaire

Angelo Bumblebee liked his ability to fly here and there. Most of the Bumblebees he knew took flying for granted, but not him. It had gotten him out of a lot of trouble. Like the time that bird had swooped down on him at the edge of the pond. He had seen it coming and had quickly changed direction to avoid it. That’s one thing about Bumblebees, they could fly at right angles if necessary. Not all birds could do that except for little hummingbirds, but he didn’t get any grief from those guys.
He had spent all morning buzzing around a large field of flowers. With his hairy little legs packed with pollen, he had flown to and from his nest. He had to be especially watchful when he was loaded up with pollen so he wasn’t attacked by the number of predators always on the lookout for him. The extra weight really slowed him down, as if having short wings didn’t make him slow enough already.
After making about a dozen trips, he got very thirsty and thought he would fly down to the pond to get a drink and rest for awhile. It wasn’t very far away and it was a nice place to relax. Especially on a hot day like today.
Angelo sat in the cool mud by the pond drinking water and thinking about all the work that lay ahead of him this afternoon. It would be worth all the effort this winter, though, when he was hungry. Then he could get all the rest he wanted and then some.
He finished resting and decided to head back to the field. But he wasn’t in a big hurry so when he flew by a large thistle that grew near the pond, Angelo settled on a blossom. It was a nice purple color and smelled good on a warm summer afternoon. He walked around and around the blossom looking for just the right spot to get some sweet pollen.
Just then, he got the feeling that there was something behind him. Before he could even look to see what it was……..BANG!!! Suddenly, he was riding atop a hot bullet going faster than he even knew was possible. His eyes were wide open with fright and were full of tears because of the wind hitting his face. He had his six little hairy legs wrapped around the bullet and was holding on for dear life. His antennae were laid back flat against his head and his wings were flapping so hard he thought they would fly off. He could do nothing to slow the bullet or change it’s direction.
After about a mile the bullet started to slow down. Through the tears in his eyes, Angelo could see that he and the bullet were heading straight for a tree. Even in the state of total fear that he was in, He knew that hitting the tree at any speed would probably hurt. As the bullet slowed further, he saw the opportunity to jump off the bullet and narrowly miss the tree.
Ten minutes later, still dazed by the experience and not comprehending what had just transpired, he started flying back in the opposite direction towards the pond. Maybe, by the time he got back to the pond, he could figure out what the heck happened.
Meanwhile, back at the pond, Little Bobby was getting bored with shooting bees off flowers with his rifle. He thought he would start walking back up to the house and see if he could talk Mom out of a piece of apple pie.

Blue Feets are made for walking

Vito centipede was out of breath. He had run farther and faster than even he thought was possible. He had stumbled over rocks, twigs, leaves and even a little cricket that happened to be in his way. Boy, when a bird that size swoops down on you, all you can think of is to get away as fast as possible. He didn’t know where he was but it didn’t really matter. After all, he was a centipede, it wasn’t like he had a job. He didn’t even have any family in this area. It was probably a good thing being that all his feet were blue. How could he explain that to anyone……he didn’t understand it himself.
I think that I’ll go back across the gray expanse tomorrow, but I’m going to try and get there before it gets too hot. I don’t like this side……….too many strange things going on around here. Vito found a spot in the green meadow that was nice and quiet with no one else around. This will be a good place to spend the night and since it is so close to the gray expanse, I can get an early start.
When Vito finally woke up the next morning, the sun was already shining bright. He had overslept since he had been so tired the night before. Vito decided to go ahead and cross anyway since it would mean spending another day here if he didn’t.
Up onto the gray expanse went Vito. It was pretty warm, but not as hot as yesterday. He walked for quite awhile before he noticed that his blue feet were starting to stick to the gray expanse a little. He looked back and could see that he was leaving a set of blue footprints. ‘That’s good,’ thought Vito, ‘At least that blue stuff is coming off so maybe I won’t look so stupid having all these blue feet.’
Getting down close to the sidewalk, Little Bobby noticed that there was a really tiny set of blue footprints going across it. “That’s weird! I’ve never seen anything like this before.” he said aloud. Following the trail, he soon came across Vito slowly and arduously moving along the sidewalk.
“WOW!! A bug with blue feet!! I need to look at this closer through my magnifying glass.” SIZZZZZZLE……….”OOPS”

Anton Ant is on the move

It had been two days since Little Bobby had stepped on the nail. Needless to say, it had also been two days since he last got a tetanus shot. That was the story of his life, step on a nail…tetanus shot, step on a rake….tetanus shot. His little arm looked like he had been using heroin. At any rate, here he sat on a blanket in the front yard reading the book his grandmother had bought him…..I guess for stepping on the nail.
Two days reading had gotten him to page five. Not that he was a poor reader, it was just that he was easily distracted. Especially with all the bugs crawling around the blanket. He noticed a long line of ants going by. Apparently, in a hurry.
“Boy, I hate moving,” thought Anton Ant. “We’ve lived on this hill for I don’t know how long and now, all of a sudden, it’s not big enough for us. So, here I am way back here behind about fifteen thousand ants going to who know where. And do they care if I get tired of packing this egg? No, they just continue leading and we all blindly follow. I’m about sick of this and if we ever stop to rest I’m going to walk up there and give those guys a piece of my mind!”
It was very risky making a move like this. Especially near the gray expanse and the home where that Fenimore kid lives. It wasn’t that long ago that he took a large group of Antons’ friends and placed them in that red colored flat sand hill. No one he took was ever heard from again.
He also was the one that was involved with poor Elwoods disappearance. Only a few remnants of him were ever found. It was a sad day for Anton because Elwood and he were very close. That Elwood was one in a million, literally.
Up over small twigs went the long column of ants. On and on through the green meadow until they were finally on the trail that led to the gray expanse. Everyone was getting hot and tired and it seemed that the leaders were nowhere near the point of calling it a halt. “It was probably a good idea anyway,” thought Anton, since it was so dangerous here. Once they were on the gray expanse, he was planning on making a run for it.
Anton kept trudging along until, finally, he could see that the column had made it to the crossing point. He could feel the tension building in the ranks until suddenly, they were there and he was almost at once at a dead run clutching the egg he had been assigned. They were moving so fast that some of the less than gracefull ants were tripping over each other. After awhile all Anton could see were legs and antennae flying in all directions as he scrambled to maintain his footing and still hold on to the egg.
All the ants behind him were pushing and shoving trying to get to the front. Anton was trying to keep ahead of those guys, stay on the lookout for trouble and watch where he was going all at the same time. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the pace slowed again. Anton was across the gray expanse and safe. Rumors started filtering back towards him from the front of the line that they were nearing the end of their journey. Anton hoped so, he was almost exhausted.
But now he was getting the feeling that something was amiss, although he couldn’t put his feeler on what it might be. There was something different about the trail they were now on. It appeared to be a very smooth trail, but it was red….and seemed to be going in a circle. Anton couldn’t figure out what was going on but everyone liked the easier walk so they weren’t complaining. The only thing was that it just went on and on with no end in sight. Anton trudged on, packing the egg. “They are the leaders……they must know what they’re doing.” thought Anton.
“WOW!!! Look at the ants on my hula hoop!” Little Bobby was going to have himself some fun.

Blue Feets

Perry T. Dragonfly flew across the green meadow and came to rest on the gray plateau. As he looked out on the meadow that stretched before him, he thought of his friend Little Billy Cricket. They had spent a lot of time together down by the river at the end of the trail. Billy had told him about the strange things that had been happening here in the green meadow. Like the different colored pools he discovered one day and about the person who had put them there.
"Ow! Ow! Ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..ow..Owie..owie..owie..owie...Youch..yowie..ow..ow.....OW!!!!!"
Little Bobby watched as the centipede ran across the hot sidewalk. "Man, I bet he's got some hot feet! Maybe I should smash him........nah....he's been through enough."
Vito Centipede finally made it across the gray expanse and boy, did his feet hurt. Luckily he had gotten smart about halfway across and only used about fifteen of his feet and kept all the others raised up. " Owie!! These feets are really hurting....I think I'll see if I can find some water."
He walked and walked through the green meadow looking everywhere for some nice cool water to soak his feet in. Shortly he ran across what looked like a big blue pool of water. It was right in the middle of a large flat rock. Even though the rock felt a little warm, at least it wasn't as hot as that area back there. He scrambled up on top of the rock and headed for the inviting blue pool.
The very instant he entered the blue pool he felt that something was not right. This water was very thick and sticky. Vito squirmed around and headed back out as fast as he could. When he was able to free himself from the pool he noticed that now, not only did he have hot burning feet, but they were also quite blue.
"Oh, great!! What the heck did I just step in??" Vito walked back out into the green meadow shuffling his blue feet along the ground trying to wipe off whatever was stuck to them. "Boy," thought Vito, "This is all I need."
Little Billy Cricket was all excited. Not only was today his birthday, but Louise Beetle had told him that if he came over today she would go down to the river with him on a picnic. Little Billy loved going on picnics, especially with someone like Louise. He would bring along some of his mom's aphid pate'.....they could spread it on some nice tasty leaves. Mmmmm, boy! And he knew his mom wouldn't mind making some for him because he was a good little cricket.
Billy couldn't wait to get home and load up on the fixings for his picnic. His little cricket head was in the clouds thinking about that wonderful Louise Beetle. He really had a thing for her. Ever since he first laid eyes on her he had wanted to lay feelers on her. Maybe someday he would get the nerve up to do just that. Billy walked faster and faster towards home.
"BLUE FEET!! I can't believe I have blue feet." Vito looked first to one side and then the other. "All I can see back there is blue feet. Maybe this stuff will wear off, but until it does, I'm going to look pretty stupid. I wish I knew wat this......." WHOOSH!! Over Vitos' head went a large brown object. Vito only caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, but he knew right away what it was........"BIRD!!!!" Vito yelled. He did a one eighty and was off like a flash. TRAMPLE.. TRAMPLE.."HEY!..WHAT THE...!" TRAMPLE..TRAMPLE.
Little Billy was on his back. He didn't know what had just ran over him, but it had more blue feet than he had ever seen on any creature. In fact he had never seen blue feet on any creature. There must have been a hundred or more. "What the heck kind of bug has blue feet anyway?" Billy pondered. He was totally confused and lay there for quite some time waiting for the dust and his head to clear.
"Hey! This is kind of neat." Looking at the blue pool of crayon that he had melted earlier with the magnifying glass, Little Bobby noticed that something had walked through it and had left little blue footprints on the flat rock he had used.
Perry got goosebumps just thinking about the awful thing that had befallen Vito.

Nothing happened today.