Jack Cricket’s World of Adventures

Jack Cricket was born on a property known as Bert’s Haven which was just outside a small town called Smokey Horizon. Jack had lots of brothers and sisters; there was Peggy-Sue and Peter-Simon who were twins, and triplets Daniel, David and Donald, then came the quintuplets Brian, Betty, Belinda and Bobbie and of course little baby sister Katie, shouldn’t be forgotten.

Life at Bert’s Haven was full of exciting things to see and do but Jack yearned to travel the world. He felt that Bert’s Haven just wasn’t exciting enough and he longed to visit all the places Grandfather Bob had told him about. Jack’s favourite pastime was listening to Grandfather Bob’s tales of wonder and on evenings when the moon was full and the stars were shining brightly he would coax Grandfather into telling him about the wonderful places he’d been. When Jack went to bed he would dream about Grandfather Bob’s stories and when he woke up in the mornings his desire to travel the world would be even stronger than before. This was how Jack’s life continued until the day he decided to hitchhike.

The big, blue machine roared into life; it shuddered like a big cat shaking off sleep and puffed out a steady stream of grey blue smoke. Jack twitched his feelers nervously and crouched in a dark corner clutching his rucksack tightly and wishing he hadn’t decided to hitchhike after all. Closing his eyes and praying very hard he remembered mother’s warning that they should never go near the blue beast but it was too late, he couldn’t escape from the monster now! His heart pounded and his knees began to shake as the huge monster leapt forward and rattled down the dusty road. He wondered if he would ever see his home again? Would mother and father miss him? Would they be very angry that he’d left without saying goodbye? Would his brothers and sisters forget him, especially little Katie who was still so very young? Jack sighed mournfully and a great fat tear rolled down his face as he thought of all the lovely things he’d left behind. He was feeling homesick already and the exciting adventures he’d hoped to have didn’t seem nearly so exciting now.

A strange scratching noise interrupted his doleful thoughts and he glanced round in fright but couldn’t see anything in the murky darkness. Cautiously edging around the huge human feet, fearful of being accidently trampled, he scurried down the mysterious passages of the blue beast towards its rear. The scratching noises were getting louder and Jack tiptoed forward cautiously peering round a corner with just one eye he caught sight of a mouse.

“Hey you” he called out to the mouse. The mouse stopped for a moment and peered short-sightedly in Jack’s direction then twitched his whiskers and continued along his journey. Jack began to run and finally caught up with the mouse just as they reached a strange little cave-like room which opened up into hundreds of tunnels.

“Excuse me, sir” he panted breathlessly to the old grey mouse. “I wonder if you can help me?” The mouse ignored him so he repeated his question much more loudly thinking that the mouse must either be hard of hearing or very rude.

“There’s no need to shout, laddie. I can hear you well enough” the mouse said sternly.

“I’m sorry” Jack mumbled.

“What sort of help d’ya need?” asked the mouse.

“Could you tell me where we’re going?”

“Aye, I could. But surely you ought to know that already.” Jack hung his head in shame and admitted that as he was hitchhiking he had no idea where the great beast was headed. “Tch, tch” scolded the mouse and shook his head disapprovingly. Then he stroked his long grey beard thoughtfully and twitched his long grey whiskers before saying confidently, “Well, as it’s Sunday the humans are going to church.”

“But it isn’t Sunday. It’s Friday” Jack protested.

“Eh, what’s that you say?” Queried the mouse grumpily.

“I said, it’s not Sunday, it’s Friday.”

“Of course it’s not Friday” insisted the mouse. “Everyone knows that after Saturday comes Sunday. Haven’t you been to school, laddie?”

“I tell you it’s Friday” Jack answered in exasperation and then added indignantly, “and of course I’ve been to school!”

“Well then, it’s no good us standing here in the cold arguing. We’ll let Larry decide” announced the mouse. “Follow me” he commanded and turned to head down one of the tunnels. Jack meekly obeyed and wondered where the mouse was taking him; he also wondered who, or what Larry was and soon found out after they had climbed a steep tunnel into a warm cosy nest which had been built in the monster’s back seat. There he saw Larry who was a large brown lizard with beige stripes who was almost as old as the mouse.

“Ah, you’re back Mac. Did you bring us anything to eat – a nice juicy fly perhaps?”

“Aye, I’m back and I’ve brought company.”

“How am I supposed to eat that thing?” Larry demanded then continued rapidly before Mac had a chance to respond, “Why didn’t you warn me? You know I always like to look my best whenever we have company!”

But Mac dismissed Larry’s chastisements with a flick of a paw, “He’s not for eating and we’ve no time to worry about your vanity! Is it Sunday, or is it Friday?”

Feeling a little bit hurt by Mac’s candid remarks about his vanity, Larry replied rather more sharply than he’d intended, “I am not vain! I simply take care of myself – unlike you, you smelly rat!”

“Yes, you are and don’t even try to deny it” Mac replied angrily, “ – and I’m not a rat, I’m a mouse you blind bat!”

“I tell you, I am NOT vain! I just like to be neat when company arrives.”

“Och! Now that’s not true, Larry and you know it. Always preening in front of the beast’s mirrors or anything else shiny. That’s how you lost part of your tail – didna’ see the cat creeping up, did ya’?” countered Mac with a hint of mirth.

“I don’t preen” insisted Larry. “I simply make sure that my tie is straight from time to time.”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

Jack looked at Mac then Larry, he looked back at Mac and then Larry as the argument grew more fierce and became quite dizzy as his head moved back and forth between the two creatures who continued playing their verbal tennis match quite oblivious to Jack’s presence. This wasn’t going to get them anywhere, he had to stop them from arguing long enough so that one of them could tell him where the beast was going.

“Excuse me…” he began timidly in the hope they would stop their incessant arguing but they just ignored him and carried on their debate as though he wasn’t even there.

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

This nonsense had gone on long enough and Jack decided that he had to be very firm if he wanted them to start behaving. “Will you two stop arguing!” he shouted.

They both stopped at the same time, mouths agape and looked at Jack in surprise. “Ahem” Larry cleared his throat and adjusted his monocle while Mac took off his spectacles and started rubbing them furiously before putting them back onto his twitching nose.

“I’m sorry that I shouted but it was the only way to stop the two of you from arguing” Jack apologised meekly.

“Aye, laddie. You see it’s just been the two of us for so long and we very rarely get visitors so we argue a lot; it helps to keep our minds alert.”

“Yes, that’s the way it is with us I’m afraid but we’ve behaved very badly indeed and we’re sorry” said Larry. Turning to Mac he asked, “How long has it been since our last visitor?”

“Och, it’s going on six months now” Mac answered.

“Oh no, it isn’t quite as long as that, Mac” Larry replied.

“Of course it is. It’s almost six months since your brother, Lionel, was here” retorted Mac.

“I shan’t disagree with that, but he wasn’t our last visitor” Larry replied triumphantly.

“Yes, he was!”

“No, he wasn’t!”

“Yes, he was!” Mac replied firmly, his nose twitching even faster in agitation.

‘Oh no’ thought Jack, ‘they’re at it again! I’d better stop them before they get carried away else I’ll never find out where we’re going.’

“Excuse me, but does it really matter?” he asked loudly hoping to interrupt their arguing.

Turning to stare unblinking at Jack they both replied in unison, “But of course it matters!”

“Whoever heard of a fellow allowing himself to be called a liar?” asked Larry and Mac nodded in agreement.

‘This is hopeless’ thought Jack, ‘I might as well leave them to get on with it’ and he turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” asked Larry.

“Back to the front of the beast so that at least I can see where we’re going” Jack replied wearily.

“Of course!” exclaimed Mac, “The laddie wanted to know where the beastie was headed today, but as we haven’t decided which day it is we haven’t been able to give him an answer” Mac chortled slapping his thigh.

“Oh yes, you did say that you were having a problem deciding which day it was” agreed Larry then added with some embarrassment, “but I’ve forgotten what the question was.”

“Is it Sunday, or is it Friday? Mac asked once again.

“Is your memory getting even worse, Mac? Don’t you even know what day of the week it is?” laughed Larry.

“I say it’s Sunday but the wee laddie here claims that it’s Friday. Now which is it?” Mac queried irritably; obviously upset by his friend’s remarks about his fading memory.

“Why it’s Friday of course” replied Larry, “you ought to know that after Thursday comes Friday.”

Having finally solved which day of the week it was, Jack decided to ask his question again before the mouse and lizard forgot that he was there and started arguing again, “Please can you tell me where we’re going?”

Both mouse and lizard replied at the same time, “Since it’s Friday the beastie is taking the humans to work.”

“Oh” replied Jack in wonderment, “What is that? Where is it? Is it exciting?”

“It’s an awful place” replied Larry. “It’s noisy, full of humans and lots of pollution. You won’t like it there.”

“Just the same, I’d like to explore it once we get there” Jack announced bravely.

“Well then, you’d better be getting back to the front otherwise you’ll be locked inside the beast all day and won’t be doing much exploring” Mac advised.

“Yes,” agreed Larry, “we’ll take you as far as the tunnel room and you should be able to find your way back from there.”

Trailing behind Mac and Larry, Jack tried to memorise the route but the maze of passages were just too confusing and he soon gave up trying. Presently they arrived back in the same cave-like room where Jack had first spoken to Mac. They said their goodbyes and Jack thanked his new friends for all the help and advice they had given him. He stopped at the corner, turned around to give his friends one last wave and lifted his bright red cap, waving it wildly above his head but he soon stopped when he saw that the mouse and lizard had already forgotten all about him; they were having another one of their conversations and were arguing about whether to have cheese or berries for lunch.

Jack scampered to the front of the vehicle and carefully perched himself on an arm rest near the door to avoid being trampled by the humans feet. He had made it just in time as no sooner had he settled himself then the monster came to a juddering halt and its door was flung wide open…