Jack Cricket's World of Adventures

Jack stood staring at his new surroundings and felt both exhilarated and fearful at what lay ahead of him; summoning all of his courage he scampered towards a nearby flower bed and hid amongst its leafy occupants. Larry had been right, this place was full of humans of all colours, shapes and sizes and it was very noisy! Feeling more homesick than ever Jack began to cry and his high-pitched chirrups soon attracted unwelcome attention; one of the humans came out of their office to investigate the noise and almost stood right on top of Jack! He gasped in fear and crept under a rock to hide for the rest of the day until he could hitchhike home again in the blue beast. Having adventures was much more scary than Grandfather Bob had said and Jack was quite certain he didn’t want any more adventures.

“Who are you?” a voice asked in a lazy drawl.

Jack jumped in terror and looked behind him expecting to see a giant or at the very least, a monster but all he saw was a lime green grasshopper stroking his antennae.

“My name is Jack. Jack Cricket.”

“Howdie Jack Cricket, I’m Gary. You’re new in the neighbourhood, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Yes I am” Jack answered glad to have found someone to talk to.

“There ain’t many crickets in these parts. What are you doing here?”

“I’m having an adventure but I think I’d rather go home” Jack replied sadly, a big tear slid down his little brown face and he sniffed mournfully.

“Don’t worry” said Gary kindly and patted Jack’s skinny shoulder. “I’ll look after you” he promised.

Jack smiled through his tears and thanked Gary; he felt much better…perhaps his adventures weren’t going to be too bad after all.

“The things to look out for around these parts are humans and birds. The humans will crush you under their feet and the birds might gobble you up for lunch.”

“I didn’t expect to see so many birds here” Jack said in puzzlement and added, “there aren’t many trees and I didn’t think that they would want their children to grow up in a place like this.” He looked around him and as far as his eyes could see there were huge concrete buildings, sticky tarred roads and tall chimney stacks puffing out a steady stream of thick white smoke. Here and there were tiny tufts of brown scorched grass, hardy weeds struggled through cracks in the pavement and there were no flowers besides the ones Jack was currently hiding in.

“Yeah, it’s an ugly place all right” agreed Gary. “It’s the bird ghetto and the youngsters who grow up here are real tough so be careful” he warned.

“Oh, I’ll be careful” Jack hastily agreed.

“Well, so long par’dner” Gary drawled, “I’ve got a family to feed and it’s almost lunch time.” He gave Jack’s shoulder another friendly pat, “Remember what I told ya’ an’ ya’ll be hunky dory.”

“Goodbye Gary, and thank you.” Jack waved cheerfully and watched as Gary hopped high into the air like a bucking bronco then shot out of sight in a lime green flash.

Jack spent the rest of the day exploring and it wasn’t nearly as easy as you might think. First of all he had to be very careful not to let the Crows, or Kurrichane Thrushes or Starlings see him, otherwise he would have ended up on one of their lunch tables. Those were the only types of birds he could recognise, there were a few others and he wasn’t sure if they also found crickets a tasty treat but he certainly wasn’t going to hang around to find out.

Then he had to make sure that he didn’t get into the way of any human or else he would surely have been squashed flat beneath their big feet, especially as most of them were wearing very heavy boots. So dodging human feet and scampering from bush to bush to hide from the ravenous birds he hurried towards the huge factory doors and scooted inside to a dark corner where he could safely catch his breath.

As he crouched in the corner panting from exertion and fear he gazed around himself in silent awe. There were massive machines clanking and banging all over the factory and what seemed like hundreds of human feet hurrying to and fro in no particular order; the humans shouted to one another from all directions and Jack wondered how anyone could think with all that racket going on. Lights flashed and bells rang somewhere overhead then a loud wailing siren went off making him jump almost out of his skin but as if by magic the siren silenced all the other noises.

Jack was so enthralled with the activity around him that he didn’t see the big black rat until it was too late; he collided into the rat’s cart and Jack’s rucksack went flying into the air towards the rat’s rickety cart.

“Oh dear, oh dear” he cried running to catch the flying rucksack but was too late and watched in horror as his brand new tartan rucksack fell into the rat’s car with a thud. Jack hurried towards it, “I’m sorry. I’m very sorry, sir. Please forgive me” he apologised quickly hoping that the big fat rat wouldn’t bite him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” growled the rat.

“I wasn’t watching where I was going and I bumped into your cart and—“ Jack abruptly stopped his explanation as the rat advanced towards him with a menacing smile.

“So you bumped into my cart, eh?” said the rat nastily and two large yellow teeth glinted in the murky darkness as he grinned maliciously.

“Yes, sir. That is…”

“Well it’s finders keepers so I guess since I found this here rucksack I’m going to have to keep it.”

“Oh please, sir, please may I have my rucksack back? I didn’t mean to…” Jack begged piteously.

“I don’t care what you meant sonny” interrupted the rat spitefully, “I’m keeping the rucksack and if you don’t want me to bite you then you’d better get out of here FAST!”

As Jack turned to run away he bumped into a large furry animal and his heart nearly stopped. ‘Oh no’ he thought, ‘now I’ll be eaten for sure’. Closing his eyes tightly he prayed and wished and prayed and wished and then he heard a soft purring sort of voice.

“So, you old rascal rat, you’re up to your old tricks again I see.”

“I didn’t mean to Mistress Monty, it was this cricket’s fault. He attacked me first” complained the rascally rat.

The big furry animal, which turned out to be a ginger cat, sat down on its haunches and licked its paws before turning to Jack and commanded in its soft purring voice, “Tell me what happened.”

“Well, sir – um ma’am – it’s like this…” Jack began and told Mistress Monty the whole story. When he had finished the cat looked at him and then at the rascally rat and its green eyes grew fiery with anger.

Jack became very afraid and tried to creep quietly away, “Stop!” commanded the cat in a very loud voice and Jack stood very still, well as still as he could because he was trembling with fear.

“You see, Mistress Monty, it’s all this cricket’s fault” whined the rascally rat slyly.

The cat stared at the rat for a moment and then said quietly, “I don’t think it’s this cricket’s fault at all. I think you were being your usual nasty self, Reggie.”

Reggie tried to run away then but quick as a flash Mistress Monty had hooked one long nail into Reggie’s tattered jacket, held him above the ground and she spoke very sternly to him, “How many times have I told you not to pick on creatures smaller than yourself?”

“Many, many times your ladyship” whimpered Reggie.

“Then why do you constantly disobey me? Are you hard of hearing, or understanding?”

“I didn’t mean to frighten the little cricket, Mistress Monty. He gave me such a fright when he bumped into my cart that I was as scared as he was” lied the rat. “Forgive me, your ladyship. I promise I’ll never do anything like that again.”

Mistress Monty looked at Reggie and then she turned to Jack, “Perhaps I should eat him. He is a troublemaker and has disobeyed my orders too many times.” Jack gasped in dismay, surely the cat would not eat Reggie even if he was a mean old rat. When Mistress Monty saw Jack’s horrified face she relented, “To be fair I’ll let you decide his fate. What shall it be little cricket?”

“Well, sir – um ma’am – he did apologise and he did promise never to behave so badly again. Perhaps you could let him go, just this once” Jack suggested timidly.

Mistress Monty thought about it for a moment then nodded, “All right. I’ll let him go this time.” She turned her fierce eyes towards Reggie, “But if I ever catch you being nasty again, Reggie, I shall certainly have you for my dinner” she threatened.

“Thank you, Mistress Monty. I promise to be good from now on” Reggie Rat said insincerely.

“You should be thanking this cricket; it was he who saved you from my belly” admonished Mistress Monty. The rat nodded furiously and thanked Jack. “I’ll be watching you, Reggie, so don’t you forget your promise” Mistress Monty warned as she released Reggie from her claws. A very relieved rat straightened his jacket, grabbed his cart and raced away towards a nearby hole.

“Well, cricket, what is your name?”

In all the excitement Jack had forgotten to introduce himself although he knew that the cat’s name was Mistress Monty because the rat had called her that many times. “My name is Jack. Jack Cricket.”

“I see. And what is, Jack Cricket, doing in this part of town?” asked Mistress Monty with a small smile.

“I’ve run away from home to seek adventure” Jack replied proudly, imagining that Mistress Monty would be impressed but the cat’s reaction wasn’t at all what he had expected.

“Run away from home!” exclaimed Mistress Monty. “What a silly thing to do. I’m sure your parents must be very worried about you.”

“I suppose so…but I did leave them a note” Jack replied defensively.

“Pah! A note isn’t going to stop them from worrying, Jack Cricket. Still I suppose what’s done is done” Mistress Monty relented. “So, Jack Cricket, where are you going to find your adventures?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it ma’am” Jack replied hesitantly and hung his head in shame while he twisted his red cap around in his hands.

“Seems to me that you seldom think about anything” Mistress Monty remarked acidly, “I suppose I shall have to help you to get started.”

“Oh ma’am, would you? I would appreciate that very much indeed, ma’am” Jack replied gratefully and jumped up and down in excitement.

“Hmm. The first step would be to get you out of here before Reggie Rat comes back” said Mistress Monty and groomed her stiff white whiskers thoroughly whilst she thought of a plan. Jack waited quietly beside Mistress Monty and wished that he was half as clever as the ginger cat.

“By jove! I think I’ve got it” Mistress Monty shouted loudly, startling Jack so much that he dropped his rucksack in fright. Bending down he hurriedly retrieved his rucksack and looked expectantly at Mistress Monty waiting for the big cat to continue. “Can you jump at all, Jack Cricket?”

“Yes ma’am!” Jack replied eagerly.

“Well then, you jump onto my back, hold very tight to my fur and I’ll carry you to safety. Once we’re outside I’ll take to a vehicle which will be most suitable for your purposes. From there on it’ll be up to you and bon voyage Jack Cricket.”

Taking a deep breath Jack jumped as high as he could and landed with a soft plop in Mistress Monty’s thick fur then scurried towards her neck where he could cling to one of her ears. Mistress Monty stalked through the factory as though she alone owned it and Jack briefly wondered if the cat really did own the factory. ‘No, surely not, that would be impossible, wouldn’t it?’ He chuckled self-consciously and chided himself for even thinking such a thing.

Presently they were outside the building’s walls and as soon as Jack felt the warm sunshine on his head his spirits lifted and he started to hum a little tune. He felt much safer with Mistress Monty as his ally because the humans wouldn’t stand on a cat and even the birds stayed well away from them.  Now he could really explore the surroundings and gazed around from his vantage point on Mistress Monty’s neck. With Mistress Monty to protect him he was able to look around as much as he wanted and he saw many things which he had not expected to see at a factory. For instance, there was a bright blue birdbath on a tall stand right in the middle of a lovely green lawn and next to the lawn stood four large fruit trees laden with delicious oranges and mangoes. A large thicket of banana trees grew at one end of the fruit trees and the entire green lawn was framed by a border of bright colourful flowers.

“Oh, what beautiful trees and flowers!” Jack exclaimed, “I didn’t see them when I first arrived here” he added, frowning in puzzlement and wondering how he could have missed such a glorious sight.

“That was because you came in at the back of the factory, this is the front” explained Mistress Monty.

By this time they had arrived at a long row of trucks and Jack shivered as he stared at the huge machines which seemed to stare straight back at him through their great big headlights. He fancied that they were laughing at him because their gleaming grills appeared to be wide open in hideous grins and he crept deeper into Mistress Monty’s fur.

“Well, here we are, Jack Cricket.”

‘Uh oh, surely Mistress Monty didn’t expect him to hitchhike in one of these monsters? Why they were at least five times bigger than the blue beast and at least twice as ugly!’

“You can hitch a ride in any one of these trucks and you’re bound to meet up with an adventure” Mistress Monty assured him.

“But where will they take me?” cried Jack in alarm.

“Hmm, let’s see. Well the green ones will take you to all sorts of places in the country where you’ll meet up with beasts of the wild. And the red ones will take you into and around the town where you’ll be able to explore lots of other factories and shops. The yellow ones are my favourite; they’ll take you into the city where you’ll not only meet lots of very interesting characters but you will also be able to enjoy the theatre. Have you ever been to the theatre, Jack Cricket?”

“No ma’am, I haven’t but I think I’d like to” Jack replied feeling excited about all the wonderful places he could visit if only he had enough courage to hitch a ride in one of the great monsters. Perhaps they wouldn’t even notice him; after all they were enormously big and he was teeny tiny. If he was very quiet and kept very still he was sure they wouldn’t even realise that he had stowed away amongst their crates of cargo.

“Well then, Jack Cricket, which one will it be?”

“It’s so difficult to make a choice” Jack replied in frustration, “I’d love to go to all of the places you talked about. What about the blue ones, where do they go?”

“That’s a good question, Jack Cricket. I’ve never travelled in one of the blue trucks so I have no idea where they go. At any rate you’ll have to make up your mind quickly because it’s nearly four-thirty. Once the siren goes those trucks will start their journeys and you’ll be left behind. Don’t forget that today is Friday so you’ll be stuck here for the whole weekend” Mistress Monty warned.

But Jack still could not make up his mind and time was running out.

I wonder which truck Jack eventually decided to take? We’ll have to read the next story to find out about his other adventures.

THE END