Wee Grasshopper ~

Through the half opened door of the bathroom, John could hear his son chattering away, carrying on an imaginary conversation with Mr. Gulliver, as he waited rather impatiently for his nightly bedtime story.

Anna, ready for bed herself, had run downstairs to brew some tea and grab a jar of biscuits she had made that very afternoon. Storytelling and listening does tend to make one rather hungry.

She had a bright smile on her face, looking forward to what had become their nightly entertainment. She was sure that this evening she would be able to listen to the whole chapter without falling asleep. She had been able to take a nap earlier that day while William spent the afternoon with his daddy again.

Anna picked up the tray loaded with a glass of milk for Will, butter and chocolate biscuits, a pot of lavender tea and two cups. It was just about all she could handle, when from the corner of her eye she saw a largish shadow jumping towards, her followed by a buzzing sound. She looked around, trying to understand what was happening, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Shrugging her shoulders she headed for the stairs - then she heard the buzz again, and turning around slowly she saw it - a huge grasshopper clinging menacingly to the kitchen curtain.

Now Anna didn't frighten easily, but she was in her thin nightgown, barefooted and both hands were occupied. Every slight move she made, the grasshopper seemed to follow her with his eyes, ready to pounce!

'Oh my god,' she whispered, trying not to move too much. But when the insect raised up on his haunches, poised to jump straight at her she couldn't help but scream.

Her cry of distress caused John to come pounding down the stairs with Jack and William close behind. 'What? What is it? Are you alright? Is it time?' he reached for her, grabbing the tray from her hands and placing it on the counter. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and in a very concerned voice exclaimed, 'We should go to the hospital, it's too soon - '

'No! It's not that John! Look!' she shrieked in his arms, pointing toward the window. All the commotion seemed to have frozen the intruder in place. 'There's a big, hugegrasshopper on the curtain!'

'Bloody he-, Anna! You gave me a fright!' He pressed a hand to his heaving chest. "All this because of a grasshopper?' he looked at her with a quizzical expression on his face.

'Just look! Look! It's a giant! And quit flailing your hands around. It's watching us,' Anna sputtered.

John rolled his eyes at her and turned around to face the beast and when he did the insect took a powerful leap from the curtain to the counter.

'Whoa! That's…that's the biggest grasshopper I've ever seen! Oooh…it's getting ready to jumping again…Anna!' John couldn't help himself as he moved slightly behind his very pregnant wife.

'John Bates! Go kill it!' Anna told him, grabbing his arm and trying to shove him forward.

'Kill it? But you never want me to kill anything,' John tried to reason with her.

'It's getting ready to jump again! Kill it, John, before it kills us!'

Her husband cringed behind her, gripping her shoulders. 'But Anna…it's almost too big to kill. It would be like killing a small animal with my bare hands right here in our kitchen.'

'Are you afraid of an insect, Mr. Bates?!'

He shot her a dismal look. 'Well I'm not the only one, am I, Mrs. Bates? And I didn't know it was that huge! And I hate insects that jump. I'm not the most agile on my feet, in case you hadn't noticed.'

'Why don't we keep it? We could call it Greenie.' William suggested.

'William Bates, don't you dare name that disgusting thing. Now you,' she turned to face John. 'Kill it! Please, John.'

She had said please. John sighed and walked towards the counter ever so slowly. He took a kitchen cloth in his hand in hopes of striking the grasshopper with it hard enough to kill it without having to actually crush it, but before he could do that the green monster jumped again, to the floor, almost touching John's bare foot.

'Ah!' he exclaimed, dropping the cloth and hopping back towards Anna. 'I know! I've got an idea. Let's go to bed, close the kitchen door, and leave the window open and hope the bast…' he coughed looking at his son. 'The beggar finds his way out. It works with the bats.'

'What if it never leaves?' Anna asked worriedly. 'I'll be nervous every time I come in the kitchen. No, I need to know it's gone.'

'I can catch it, mummy. I am not afraid.'

'William - '

But before the boy could take the grasshopper to safety, Charlie came leaping through the open kitchen window, taking it in his mouth and began crunching on it. Every bite he took could be heard…loudly. John swallowed hard and they all had sickening grimaces on their faces except the dog, Jack, who appeared to be smiling.

'No. Charlie! No!' William pleaded in vain. But Greenie was no more than a single leg dangling from between Charlie's teeth at this point.

'Charlie yes!' Anna cheered. 'Charlie's my hero!'

It was love at first sight as she walked toward the cat. He jumped on the kitchen table, where Anna took him in her arms. 'Charlie, the true man of this house.' She looked over her shoulder at John and winked, patting him on the chest as she walked past him. 'Would you grab the tray when you come up, darling?'

'Come on, silly cat, let's find you a place to sleep.' Anna looked down at Jack. 'See Jack? He's even a better dog than you are.' Then she headed upstairs.

That night, Anna and John's bed was fully booked, as Charlie chose her feet to sleep on. After so much ruckus downstairs, Anna was out not five minutes after John started reading.

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July 18th, 1927 ~

Let me tell you, last night was an adventure! Anna called me screaming from the kitchen, and of course the first thing that came to my mind was that the babies were ready to come. I was so nervous going down those stairs, I don't know how I didn't trip and break my neck. Anyway, as I came into the kitchen asking what was going on, I was already making plans to take her to the hospital and she tells me that it's a grasshopper on the curtain that has her so frightened. A grasshopper!

Alright, I must confess, the insect was gargantuan! But Anna gave me a hell of a fright. I tried to kill it, honestly I did. Though I was a bit apprehensive, only because I didn't want to crush it as it was so big and I really don't like bugs that jump.

In the end, Charlie caught it! He's Anna's hero now. William was a bit sad because he wanted to keep it and call it Greenie. Children come up with some funny ideas, they do!

We all ended up in bed, including the cat, and I still got to read William a few pages of Gulliver's Travels. Anna of course, fell asleep right away. I think the grasshopper adventure was too much for her. It's not something I care to relive either.

Moving on, this afternoon, Mr Grant is coming to take some measurements and to talk to Anna about where she wants the gazebo, and on Monday they will start building.

That is it for today. I am waiting on Anna and William for lunch as usual, and I think the lad will stay with me again. It's been fairly quite

here and it's always nice for Anna to be able to rest. Carrying those two little ones is not easy on her. Hopefully soon, they will be here with us.

~ John Bates

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I see that John mentioned the grasshopper. Well, he forgot to mention that he was as scared as I was. Silly beggar.

I must sound like a fragile princess with all this talk about naps, but today I was able to have a nice long one. I've been napping every afternoon since William has been "helping" John at the hotel, and I must say, it's doing me world of good. Thankfully, tonight there won't be any more giant insects invading the kitchen, because I will remember to close the window and I will be able to stay awake to listen to John reading.

Ah! And we have, officially, another pet. Charlie, of course. He's so sweet and he lets me pet and I'm holding him now. How lovely. I cleaned him with a damp cloth, but he was looking very good for a stray cat. He's well fed, thanks to me, and he's young, and then, he's been living in our garden so he was not really a true stray cat, was he? I think he's about five or six months, no more than that.

I do worry about Goldie though! Last thing I want is for Charlie to eat him. Although when I was making dinner he was there, right beside the fishbowl and he didn't even care about it. Maybe he only likes insects. I don't think he's going to do Goldie any harm, but just in case I covered the bowl with a bit of wood that we had left from renovating the cottage and I made sure it had a little place for air to get in, so I think that everything will be alright. I'll ask Mr Grant to cut the wood to the size of the bowl tomorrow, and to make a little hole in it, so I can cover it properly and it will look good. John has started calling our little menagerie the Bates Zoo. But he really doesn't mind.

I'm going to get ready for bed now. William's already waiting for his story and John is finishing his washing up. Tonight, I will stay awake!

~ Anna Bates