Crickets

Oooh. . . I'm full of spicy Thai food and feeling rather fine. It was a nice evening out and about with friends, and now I'm getting ready to relax for a while with some reading, music homework, math, and a little chocolate before going to be. But first, our trip into town was worth recounting, mainly because our first errand was to the "One Stop" pet store in Brattleboro, where a kindly fellow sold us one dozen crickets.

"Small, medium or large?" asked the man behind the counter, as if we were ordering coffee. We told him that we had a leopard gecko; a hungry one. "How old?" One year. "Then medium should do it. A dozen, you said? OK, I'll go catch them now." We also bought a little plastic "critter carrier" to improve their quality of life -- as well as social possibilities -- for we still had to pick up another friend, go out to eat, and then do some grocery shopping. In the car, we took turns holding the crickets under our coats to keep them warm. "How is it being pregnant with all those babies?" asked Lisa when it was my turn.

We picked up Lucy at her house and then continued on with our stomaches to guide us. "What if they start chirping in the restaurant?" somebody asked as we pulled up to the parking lot.

"I think they only do that when they're mating," was the reply. Since we didn't want them to get shivery in the car, the crickets spent the duration of the meal perched on an empty chair at the table, neatly concealed in a brown paper bag. After we ate and paid the bill, the crickets moved from inside one jacket to another until we reached the co-op. They became a large lump, with an edge of brown bag poking out, in the front-left portion of my down vest. At the checkout counter, I explained I was not shoplifting but instead carrying something I'd already purchased, conveniently, under my clothes.

Our gecko -- who still doesn't have a name -- was very pleased with us when we came home with crickets. It was quite entertaining to watch him go after them with quick yet calculatingly lazy hunger.

I don't think I've had such a fine evening in quite a while!