Chapter 7
Flicka closed her book with a sigh. She couldn't concentrate on her homework very much, especially while trying to think about grasshoppers.
Earlier at school, she had gone to the library to research a bit on the bugs. Nothing she found had much of a resemblance to Harvey, other than being on grasshoppers. The first book she found was on how the they had oppressed the ants, but for some reason there was nothing on why the grasshoppers were given food in the first place. The book described them as big, mean, bullies, but they left the ants alone after it was found out that the meanest one, Hopper, had been eaten alive by a bird. The paragraph was accompanied by a drawing of a screaming, angry, grasshopper being fed to a bunch of baby birds, which looked kind of creepy to Flicka.
She also thought the grasshopper looked a little like Harvey, but maybe it was just her.
The next book was more on grasshoppers themselves, but it had more pictures been writing. It was rather cool to her, but none of the drawings had the grasshoppers in a relaxed position or even nice looking. Then again, she thought, they weren't very nice back then.
Near be end of the book, when Flicka turned the page, she let out a squeal and slammed the book shut. The library suddenly became unbelievably quiet. After a few seconds everything went back to normal, and Flicka carefully opened the book back to the page and stared in terror.
The pages on both sides had one entire, carefully painted picture of a frightening, narrow faced grasshopper, so real looking, Flicka felt it could come out and eat her any second. She quickly closed the book back before she could get any more nightmarish images from it, then hurried on to class.
Now she couldn't stop thinking about grasshoppers, especially Harvey. It had been 3 days since she had seen him, and she wondered how he was doing. Instead of actually doing her homework for the past hour, she had drawn a picture of Harvey with his nice smile and kind face, unlike every other picture she had found.
Maybe I could ask someone about the grasshoppers and find out more that way, thought Flicka. Her mother probably had too much on her hands, but she knew several others who might help. Might.
"They were mean rascals, but they left, so why should you worry about them?" Her grandmother asked. Aphie hopped around Flicka, than climbed up to her head, and begin to eagerly lick her face.
"I was just wondering about them," she said, as she pulled Aphie off her head and held him in her arms. "But I wanted to know if there were any that were nice."
"There was one, but Hopper probably dropped him as a larvae, and he was more stupid than anything," she said with a laugh. "You shouldn't worry about it sweetheart, they won't bother us anymore, thanks to your father."
Flicka stared, then smiled. "Thanks for the information grandma," she said, and was quickly off to see someone else.
Flick was busy. Really busy, making sure all of the storages were full and sealed and there were enough in each one to last a whole month, and he was calculating it on an abacus. So he didn't realize Flicka was there until he felt her arms around his neck.
"Hey dad! Great work! Hey, can I ask you a question and help you out?"
Flick grinned, and handed her the abacus. "Hey honey. So, how was school today?"
"Good." Especially since her secret hadn't gotten spread around. Maybe Clara really thought it was a lie.
"So what did you want to ask me about?"
"I've been curious . . . What were grasshoppers like? I mean, were they ever actually nice?"
Flick stopped walking, and turned to stare at Flicka.
"They were terrifying, and when they got angry, well . . . . . anyway, none of them were nice. They were mean, and cowardly, and they're gone now."
Flicka didn't get any more information out of her dad, but there was one more person besides her mother she could ask.
Her aunt.
Her Aunt Dot was young, pretty, and enjoyed being a princess. In fact, Dot wouldn't mind if the crown just skipped her; she got the amenities of a queen without the work, but when she did work, she did it very well. Flicka admired her aunt, especially when Dot would sometimes leave to go to fun places, like the city. And her Aunt knew everything.
Flicka found Dot reclined in a chair, being fanned, and sipping honeydew. She was talking to a worker about a warming system for the winter, but when she caught sight of Flicka, she got up and gave her niece a big hug.
"How's my favorite niece? Surviving school O.K.? Maybe I can get your Mom to let me take you to the circus, huh?"
Flicka smiled. She couldn't help it; her Aunt was so funny, smart, and pretty that all the single guys on the Island would try to woo her -but Dot wasn't interested in guys at the moment; she was to busy having fun in the single life.
"Sooo, Aunt Dot, what do you know about grasshoppers?"
Her Aunt thought for a second, then smiled. "They were kinda scary, but mostly dumb. Hopper and his . . . . . . erm . . . PET, were the only ones that were actually frightening. The rest weren't too bad.
"In fact, I happen to know a grasshopper, Molt, and he's just a big sweetheart who honestly wouldn't hurt a soul, and don't tell anybody, but I think Rosie has a crush on him, and he-
"What?!" Flicka stared in amazement. "You know a grasshopper? How?"
Dot eyed Flicka. "Yeah, why the sudden interest?"
"Oh, well . . . I . . . might have met a grasshopper on the Island."
"On the Island?" Dot frowned with a touch of worry. "Why is there one on the Island?"
"He was just a little kid, and he's not here anymore. He's into inventing and stuff, though I'm not sure why he was here in the first place. But he was nice, and small too. I think he might have been a little scared of me."
Dot smiled again. "So your getting a little obsessed with grasshoppers and boys and stuff, huh?"
"No no, just with grasshoppers, but I can't seem to find much on them; the library was more or less a bust."
"Why don't you ask your friend?"
"He lives quite a ways away, and I would probably tire out flying halfway there; it's about three hours from here."
Dot stood up and headed to another room, and Flicka hurried after.
"Rose and Molt wanted me to look after a little guy for the night," said Dot. "He can fly twenty-five minutes for every three hours we fly. I'm sure he won't mind carrying a kid."
In the room, just waking up from a nap and covered with a leaf, was an enormous blue beetle. Flicka gaped at him as he thumped over to Dot.
"Hey there cutie, have a good nap?" Dot rubbed him, and gave him a kiss on his horn.
"Dim, this is Flicka, and she wants to take you on a ride. Wanna do it?"
Dim eagerly nodded his head, then looked at Flicka with a big grin, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Be back before supper, O.K.?" said Dot.
"Thanks!" Flicka climbed up on Dim, and flew out of a large skylight overhead.
Now all she had to do was find Harvey.
