"They've lost their minds! Anything but birds," said Earthworm as he was lying down on the peach with the bell around his neck.
Centipede held Earthworm and James held the first string "Don't worry," James reassured him. "I'm right here. Now, wiggle."
Diana and I were down with the others prepared to pull him down.
"No!' Earthworm refused.
"You have to wiggle Mr. Earthworm!" I said.
"No worries," Diana said. "You'll be fine!"
"But they won't come if you don't wiggle," said James.
"Exactly and you can't make me," said Earthworm.
Centipede grew impatient and he came up with "Plan B."
"Oh yeah!" Snickered Centipede as he tickled Earthworm's sides and Earthworm laughed and rang the bell as he wiggled.
"Oh hey! No fair! Mockingbirds munched my mother!" cried Earthworm as he laughed.
As he kept wiggling, a seagull noticed him and swooped down towards him.
James saw the first seagull and said to the others, "Here comes the first one. Get ready to pull down there."
"My sisters were swallowed by swallows!" Cried Earthworm.
The bird squeaked and James yelled as he gave the signal, "Pull!"
Diana, the others, and I pulled hard on Earthworm's body down. James threw the string around the seagulls' neck and and tied it to them and he said excitedly, "It worked! I caught one!"
"Excellent!" Diana called out to him.
"Shh! I hear teeth," Earthworm said. "Great, big, gnashing teeth!"
Diana and I crawled out with Mr. Grasshopper, Centipede and Dragonfly to see what was going on.
"It sounds like a rhinoceros!" James exclaimed.
"In the ocean?" Mr. Grasshopper said calmly. "Uh, scientifically impossible."
"What could that be?" I asked.
"I hear something too!" Said Miss Spider as she was on her web.
A whirlpool appeared and it started to suck in a school of tuna. Mr. Grasshopper looked in his monocle and saw the whirlpool.
"It's a school of tuna," Mr. Grasshopper said. "They're being sucked into some sort of machine."
"Ye don' t'ink it's t'e loch ness monster?" Dragonfly asked.
"What do you mean?" Asked James.
"Take a look," Mr. Grasshopper said and he handed James his monocle and he took a look in it and he saw a giant robot shark popped out of the water.
"It's a giant shark!" he cried.
"What did you say?" Diana and I yelled.
The giant mechanical shark spitted out plates with tuna heads. It was disgusting!
"Ye don't t'ink it'll come fer us?" Dragonfly asked.
"It seems to have spotted us!" Cried Centipede.
"Uh oh!" I cried.
The robot shark started to swim towards them.
"Oh this is not good!" Diana exclaimed.
"What do we do?" Centipede wrapped his arms around James and shook him and cried, "What do we do?"
"The seagulls!" said James filled with determination. "It's our only chance."
"It would take the whole flock and then some," said Mr. Grasshopper. "We'll never do it in time!"
When he said that, Centipede shook like a leaf and held his cap.
"What can we do to catch 'em?" Dragonfly asked.
"We'll use Miss Spider's web for a net," James said. "Hurry!"
"Warn them Diana!" I cried. Diana ran down the tunnel and called out. "Miss, we need your net for a web to catch those seagulls or we'll be shark bait!"
Miss Spider tore down her web and wrapped it up.
"Throw it here dearie!" Mrs. Ladybug cried and Miss Spider tossed her web to Mrs. Ladybug.
Mrs. Ladybug threw the net to Butterfly and she threw it to Diana.
"Here James!" Diana then threw the net to James.
James caught the net and he turned to Earthworm.
"Wiggle Mr. Earthworm!" James said. "Our lives depend on it!"
"I can't! I'm all wiggled out!" said Earthworm as he tried to get back into the peach and Centipede grunted and grabbed Earthworm.
"Here, let me help you," Centipede said smirking.
He then spun Earthworm into the air and Earthworm screamed.
"Come and get it!" Centipede yelled to the seagulls. "Get your fresh hot wienie!"
The whole flock of seagulls flew down towards Earthworm as they heard Centipede yelling to them. "Come on, baby!"
The shark kept swimming to the peach.
"Another five minutes," I said. "And we'll be goners!"
After the seagulls flew closer, Centipede jumped down the hole with Earthworm, and James tossed the net and he caught all of the seagulls.
"We got 'em! Hand us the loops!" Said James.
Miss Spider and Mrs. Ladybug tossed up the strings to James and he tied the strings to the stem and James started to tie the strings around the seagulls' necks and Mr. Grasshopper, Dragonfly, Centipede, Diana, and I came out and helped James tie up the seagulls.
"Hurry!" Cried James.
"Faster! The shark's getting closer!" I yelled.
"Shake a leg there!" Mr. Grasshopper snapped at Centipede.
"Keep your pants on!" Yelled Centipede. "I've only got twelve hands!"
"An' I 'ave six!" Dragonfly said.
As they kept tying up the seagulls, the shark was gaining on them.
"It's getting closer!" Cried Earthworm as he was hiding in the tunnels.
They released the net and the seagulls that are tied up flew up into the sky.
"Seagulls away!" Yelled Centipede.
The peach was lifted from the water as the seagulls lifted it into the air.
They hoped they were going to get away from the shark but he shot an arrow at them and it pierced through the peach and went through the stone and nearly hit Miss Spider, Butterfly, and Mrs. Ladybug and they gasped.
"Oh no!" Cried James as he looked at the shark.
"Oh dear!" Cried Mr. Grasshopper.
As the arrow pulled back the peach, Centipede fell forward and grabbed the cord and his hat.
Then sharp scissors like sharks were shot at them and James turned the stem but one of the sharp things cut some of the strings and a few seagulls were flying away.
"They're getting away!" Cried James as the seagulls flew away.
"Hop on, James!" Said Mr. Grasshopper and James hopped on his back and Mr. Grasshopper jumped up to grab the seagulls.
"Here lassies," Diana crawled on Dragonfly's back and he picked me up by the waist and we flew up towards the sky to reach the seagulls.
"Now nab them!" Mr. Grasshopper and James grabbed the strings and as they went down tugging the strings.
"Grab 'em lassies!" Dragonfly called. Diana, Dragonfly, and I grabbed the strings of the seagulls on flew down.
The shark shot two more of those sharp scissor sharks and we watched them both scream, "Help!"
Then Mrs. Ladybug crawled out of the peach, with Butterfly and they flew in the air and swung her purse around to hit the sharp shark scissors.
"Hooligans!" Said Mrs. Ladybug as she hit the scissors with her purse and the other one as it fell into the ocean, "Ruffians! Degenerates!"
Butterfly kicked one with her high-heeled boot.
"Well done Mrs. Ladybug," she smiled.
"Right back at you dearie!"
Dragonfly flew us down to the stem and waited for James and Mr. Grasshopper to land.
They both landed and James jumped off of Mr. Grasshopper and we tied the strings with the seagulls back on the stem.
Mr. Grasshopper, Butterfly, Mrs. Ladybug, Diana, Dragonfly, James and I cheered on the seagulls.
"Come on seagulls!" Yelled James.
"Put your backs into it!" Yelled Mr. Grasshopper.
"Shake your bloomin' tail feathers!" Yelled Mrs. Ladybug.
"You can do it!" Yelled Diana.
"Fly away from the beast!" Dragonfly yelled.
"Don't give up!" I yelled.
As the cheering was going on, Centipede was climbing on the cord trying to reach the fence pathway and he muttered to the shark, "Good sharky... nice sharky..."
Inside the peach, Miss Spider grabbed a hammer and started to pound on the arrow so that they could escape.
Centipede almost fell and he slob towards the shark's mouth and screamed, "Sharky!"
Centipede was almost near the mouth of the shark and held onto the cord for dear life and Miss Spider kept hammering the cord.
Centipede acted like a chicken and he ran up the wire and reached the wooden fence pathway just in the nick of time as Miss Spider slammed the arrow and as Centipede ran up the pathway, the arrow went in the shark's mouth and it started to break down and blew up into to pieces.
Everyone all applauded and Centipede jumped on the pathway and shouted,
"Teach ya to mess with me, ya overgrown sardine! I'm from Brooklyn!" Diana and I cracked up about Centipede's joke.
"Pure Twadle!" Mr. Grasshopper giggled and said. "Every bug on board displayed extraordinary courage. Especially Mr. Dragonfly, Miss Diana and Miss Jenna, were extremely great helpers. Why, did you see Ms. Ladybug and Butterfly risk life and wing to bash those brutes on the snoot?"
"Well, they were being very rude," Mrs. Ladybug replied. "I can't abide rudeness."
"Mei Oui," Butterfly said at us. "We always knew they were very helpful!"
"We are all forgetting something," Miss Spider turned to James and Penelope. "Everything we did was a part of the brilliant plan of James.."
"It really did work didn't it?" James asked.
"I knew you would figure out something to save our lives," Diana said.
She and I mounted James on his shoulders.
"We're very proud and grateful for you James!" I said.
"I say three cheers for James," Mr. Grasshopper called out, "Hip hip…"
"Hooray!" said Earthworm, Dragonfly, and Centipede.
"Hip hip…" Mr. Grasshopper said for the second time.
"Hooray!" Then Glowworm, Butterfly, and Mrs. Ladybug cried in joy.
"Hip hip…" Mr. Grasshopper said one last time and everyone yelled "Hooray!"
"New York!" Centipede walked to the stem and he spitted every hand and turned the stem and yelled, "Here we come!"
And the peach flew into the air.
I was sitting on the side of the fence, by myself and I thought of what happened today was a big adventure. I got bored and I decided to sing one of my favorite songs from my favorite operas.
"When will I love you?" I sang in my opera singing voice.
"Good Lord, I don't know."
"Maybe never,
Maybe tomorrow."
"But not today, that's for sure," I walked up the wooden fence. The bugs heard the music and watch me coming up to them in graceful steps.
"Love is a rebellious bird,
That no one can tame," I shook out my fan and waved it over myself.
"And you can call him quite in vain,
If it suits him to refuse."
I walked up to Earthworm, and I placed my hand underneath his neck gently and I kissed the tip of his nose.
"Nothing to be done,
Threat or prayer,
The one talks well,
The other is silent."
I came to Centipede and I sang around him. My left leg came out of the silt of my dress and one of Centipede's hands started stroking it.
"And it's the other,
That I prefer;
He says nothing,
But he pleases me."
"Love!
Love!
Love!
Love!"
I then turned to Centipede and whacked him on the head with my closed fan.
"Hey!" The girls giggled.
"Love is a gypsy's child;
It has never, ever, known the law.
If you do not love me, I love you;
If I love you, take guard yourself."
(Music plays)
"If you love me not,
if you love me not,
then I love you!"
(Music plays)
"But if I love you,
if I love you,
take guard yourself!"
(Music plays)
I walked around as if an imaginary chorus was signing the law, and they were smiling at me.
"If you love me not,
If you love me not,
Then I love you!"
(Music plays)
"But if I love you,
If I love you,
Take guard yourself!" I sang higher.
I laid my back against Dragonfly and he wrapped his arms around my waist and I sang.
"The bird you thought you had caught,
Beat its wings and flew away.
Love stays away, you can wait for it;
When you stop waiting, there it is!
All around you, swift, swift,
It comes, goes, then it returns,
You think you hold it fast,
It flees, you think you're free,
It holds you fast," Dragonfly released me and I kept singing.
"Love!
Love!
Love!
Love!"
I stood next Mr. Grasshopper, and he played his violin to the song I was singing. I then took Centipede's cigar and took a small drag as I sang.
"Love is a gypsy child;
He has never, ever, known the law." I inhaled on the cigar as I sang and then I took it out as I let out a smoke.
"If you love me not,
Then I love you;
And if I love you,
Take guard yourself!" I blew the smoke in Centipede's face.
"Hey!"
(Music plays)
"If you love me not,
If you love me not,
Then I love you!"
(Music plays)
"But if I love you,
If I love you,
Take guard yourself!"
Everyone giggled as I jumped around playfully and the girls laughed.
"If you love me not,
If you love me not,
Then I love you!"
"But if I love you,
If I love you,
Take guard yourself!" I made a pose with my arms in the air and I grinned.
Everyone clapped at my performance and I bowed. I know smoking is bad for my health, I inhaled the cigar more and I exhaled the smoke and coughed. I'm really not a smoker, so I gave the cigar back to Centipede.
"What a beautiful voice you got their Jenna," Mr. Grasshopper said. "But that song you sang sounds familiar."
"It's from an opera called 'Carmen," I said. "The song I sang was the Habanera and it's written by Georges Bizet."
"Carmen?" Butterfly asked. "What's that about?"
"Carmen's a great opera," I said. "It's a tragic story about love, hate, jealously, passion, betrayal, and revenge. Even though it is tragic and dark, it's filled with passionate music."
"What's the plot of the opera dearie?" Mrs. Ladybug asked.
"Well the plot is very simple, the opera takes place in Seville, a city in Spain somewhere in the 1820's. But the opera is sung in French. According to the plot of the opera, there's this inexperienced soldier named Don Jose who's engaged to a village maiden named Michaela. But one day, he falls in love with a gypsy named Carmen, so he dumps Michaela, quits the army and becomes a bandit just so he could be with Carmen. But then, Carmen falls in love with a bullfighter named Escamillo. Don Jose is crushed, he ruins his whole life for that woman and she dumps him."
Everyone gasped.
"So then he... Well, I don't want to spoil the ending for all of you. But let's just say it doesn't end well. My dream is to play the title character from the opera."
"Oh, now I remembered," Mr. Grasshopper, said. "Carmen is one of my favorite operas."
"Oui," I said. "My biggest dream is to be an opera singer. I'll join the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and sing in an opera. I can sing soprano and mezzo-soprano parts."
"With a pretty voice like that," Dragonfly said. "You could impress many people."
"Thanks, but I don't think I can smoke again," I turned to Centipede. "No offence to you."
Centipede made a face at me and Butterfly giggled.
I love hearing their comments at least I finally have some support to accomplish my dream of being in operas.
The song I was singing was called the Habanera from the opera "Carmen," the song is sung in French and it's very beautiful! If you want to hear the song, it's sung on Youtube by Agnes Baltsa and Maria Ewing, they are the best Carmen's in the past.
I hope to post more of the story soon, and I'll post another song from Carmen in the later chapters.