Part 1: Salad Days. Chapter 1: Catching Crickets

Recently, at the Lily Pad, there has been a rise in the population of Crickets.  I believe it is the Lowering of the Outside Temperature, driving the Morsels in.

They are not stealthy creatures, and I spot them easily.  As they walk across the floor, Mote and Mustardseed look longingly at them with their bulgy frog eyes, one frogfoot propped against the glass.  Mote especially hungers for them, for they are Harder to Catch, and Make Life Interesting.

As Mote and Mustardseed are confined, I am obliged to "Eat and then Let Loose" the cricket.  Mote and Mustardseed call it this because they are simple creatures, and have no concept of why I would Chase Crickets Around, with no Intention Of Eating Them.  Cornering a Cricket can be Difficult for the Beginner, but once realized that they Jump at Anything, they can be easily Snatched Up after Feigning a Lunge.  I promptly free the cricket (despite Scratchy Squirms) into the frog home.  Mote chases the cricket while it crawls over the plants, walls, floor, and Mustardseed.

They are of a black variety and have been so numerous of late that I have put them with the other crickets, those in my Cricket Carrier, because Mustardseed and Mote must have Time to Process The Buggers.  There they remain, Hopping at the Clear Walls, until their Doom, or The Hour of The Bug, as Mote says.