"A Visit to Insect Island"

"Stories for my Grandchildren" story 2

by P Powrie

Bobby sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily - and then opened his eyes a little wider! "Where am I?" he asked aloud, using those same, traditional words. A strange street and here he was sitting on a wagon of hay. Quickly he clambered down and, seeing no one in the street, he walked up to the nearest house and just as he was about to ring the door-bell his eyes caught a glint of sun on the brass plate at the side of the door. "Mr Mickey Mosquito Snr. A.B.X.Y.2. Nosebite Specialist."

"Oh." murmured Bobby, gently caressing his nose, "I guess this isn't the bell I should be ringing."

He turned away with a slight feeling of uneasiness and walked to the next house. Here he was amazed to see another brass plate, this time bearing the information "Jimmy Jigger-Flea. Jnr."

"I must be dreaming." said Bobby slowly. "Why?" asked a deep voice just behind him. Bobby whirled around and stood gazing in awe at a fat, merry tick, quite as large as himself and dressed in a navy-blue suit with a brown woven belt around his "rotunda" and a smart navy-blue top hat set rakishly on his head.

"B-but why are you so big?" stuttered poor Bobby. "Big?" queried Timothy Tick. "I'm not big, not much bigger than I was yesterday at any rate. Nor bigger than my father, and my son Tommy is nearly as big as I am." "Then I must have grown smaller." wailed Bobby "Oh, what am I going to do?" "Why nothing I expect, after all, what could you do?" asked Mr Tick in amazement. Bobby looked at him in growing horror "But I"m usually a million times bigger than you." he said "Oh well, then you must have shrunk, but come along to my house and have some tea - you're not too shrunk to eat and drink are you?" "I-I d-don't think so." said Bobby as he miserably allowed Mr Tick to lead the way down the street to a very pretentious looking house.

"Come in, come in." said Mr Tick. As he entered the house Bobby looked around at the furniture.
Deep comfortable chairs, shiny table and a thick carpet. "My goodness." he breathed. "You certainly live in comfort, Mr Tick." Mr Tick chuckled deep and full and rang the bell for tea. "Yes. Perhaps I do. Yes, you may say I live on the fat of the Land." "I'm sure you do." said Bobby with an inward smile - thinking of how Mr Tick lived in the world Bobby was used to living in! He sank into a large chair that almost swallowed his slim young boy's body.

The door opened and tea had arrived - with Mrs Tick following. "This is my wife, Theresa. Theresa, this is a little boy I found in the street feeling rather lonely, my dear, so we must do all we can to make him feel comfortable and welcome." "Yes certainly." said Mrs Tick "He can stay for the party this evening and make friends with all the young folk. He'll like that." "Thank you." said Bobby, gazing at Mrs Tick's resplendent gown of rose and yellow silk.

The party that evening was a great success and Bobby stood in the receiving line with his host and hostess so that he could then meet each person as they entered the room and this seemed to be a good idea except that of course he could only remember the names of the persons by their shapes, which he knew from having learned all about some of them at school. But as Bobby soon found out, they were not only 'persons' but also personalities, which was quite a new idea to Bobby.

In his past they had been good or bad, nice or nasty insects, harmful or harmless but now, all of a sudden, they also 'liked' certain foods or liquids and also perhaps preferred one chair rather than another. Bobby could not help smiling secretly at the thought that he had heard people say "Oh, mosquitoes never bite me, they don't seem to like the taste of my blood." and others that "If there is but one flea in a room it will make a bee-line for me!" (Surely that should be a flea-line - Flea-line?) Well, now he was learning that they had preferences as well, just like human people.

First to arrive were the Grasshopper Family, Mr Giddy and Mrs Limit Grasshopper and their three children, daughter Gleaner, 15, son Gasper, 13, and Gertrude, aged just nine. Bobby found their handshake a bit scratchy and was glad to get it over with.

The next arrival was the Bug Family. Basil and Betina with their son Bertram, Bertie to his friends. He quickly smiled at Bobby and said "Call me Bertie." so Bobby knew right away that they could be friends. They had driven up in an expensive looking Ford (1981 model) Basil, who did not approve of flash clothes on a man, wore a sombre brown suit with brown pin-stripes and a bowler hat. Betina dressed in the same strain, wore a necklace of blood-stones to add that extra bit of colour that a woman needs, while Bertie was dressed just as a little boy should be. Bobby found out that the Bug family inclined to long handshakes - in fact he had quite a job to shake them off!

Then came Jimmy Jigger-Flea Jnr and his wife Josephine and Bobby could not help but feel that there was an air of sort of unexpectedness about their arrival and when it came to shaking hands, his toes tingled with a queer feeling of 'pins and needles'.

On and on the guests came until Bobby felt dizzy with names and shapes. At last his host murmured gently in his ear "Only one more now and she is always late. Got a reputation for it." Bobby searched the street with his eyes wondering who "She" could be. At last a beautiful carriage, all brown, and oval, arrived and Miss Benita Butterfly emerged, looking all fresh and dewy-eyed. She fluttered up the strip of grass to the reception stand and, with a delightful little shiver that ruffled the gauzy folds of her exquisite dress, she smiled sweetly and dropped the minutest curtsey to Bobby, who suddenly felt his knees go slightly weak with the coming relaxation from the strain of the ordeal - or perhaps it was caused by the recollection and memory of the past days of butter-fly nets and green fields, or perhaps it was just the prettiness of her salute.

His host took his arm and guided him into the large reception room, gay with flowers, slightly intoxicating with their perfume. Here a merry party of pre-dinner drinks of honey, spice, dew and nectar was in progress and his host insisted that he had a glass of morning-dew wine and Bobby thought that he had never tasted anything nicer!

All of a sudden the mellow notes of the dinner-gong sounded, searching their way into every corner of the house - and even into the garden. The guests filed laughingly into the beautiful old dining hall and found their places by reading their names engraved neatly on boards which fastened onto the backs of the chairs.

Soon the dinner was in progress and Bobby, being a perfectly healthy youngster, paid more attention to his dinner than to the amusing "small-talk" that was tossed to and fro like a gay coloured ball, up and down the table.

Bobby ate until he sat back with a sigh of satisfaction and viewed the assembled company with a benevolent eye. Everyone else as just finishing off his or her desert and now the host rose to his feet, cowslip-wine glass in his hand and, smiling down at the upturned faces he said "Ladies and Gentlemen, this dinner tonight has been a welcome to our new friend Bobby. Where he comes from nobody, not even Bobby, knows. Where he goes when he leaves us is also a mystery, but, while he is here we will show him that the people of the Insect Island know how to welcome and to entertain a guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, I now propose a toast to Bobby. May his days here make happy and interesting memories. To Bobby." "To Bobby" muttered everybody, rising to their feet with glasses raised high. Bobby thrilled with pride and when the last guest had settled down again Bobby rose and said in the most important sounding voice that he could manage. "People of Insect Island, allow me to extend my most profound congratulations upon your ability to make a guest feel welcome. Believe me, I am most grateful." He sank thankfully back onto his chair again, amidst much applause.

His host arose again and said "It is the custom for the ladies to leave now but tonight perhaps they would like to stay and hear the over-the-table stories I am sure everyone is dying to tell." The suggestion was greeted with much enthusiasm.

"Well" said Mickey Mosquito "I shall start the ball rolling and tell of something that happened a while back. Cedric Centipede arrived in a handsome cab drawn by two beautiful white worker ants. He clambered down, not missing one step with any of his feet. It was a magnificent accomplishment. He was wearing a pastel shade jacket and striped trousers - one leg for each leg, if you see what I mean - and the socks his wife, Celia had painstakingly knitted for him. (It is not an easy job to knit socks for one hundred feet at a time!) When his turn came to shake hands with Mr Centipede, Bobby had a momentary attack of hesitation - I mean, when a centipede shakes hands which foot does he use? But Cedric must have thought of that because on one of his hundred feet he was wearing a mitten."

This story was greeted with much laughter and witty comments. Next came another Mickey Mosquito story.

"The concert was all over in Wild Town. The guests were all on tour from the city. I heard about them and thought it would be a good chance to find out what noses from the big city tasted like, so I went along. I arrived there early and had a look around, chose the quietest looking bedroom, and settled down to wait. When my victim was asleep I flew down and alighted gently on his rather long nose but what a shock I got. I bit and bit but could make no impression. Then I heard someone coming and quickly flew back to my resting place. Three people burst in and did they laugh. "Look" cried one "Felix got so tight at out party that he forgot to take his false nose off." The Island Insects laughed and Bobby laughed and laughed. Bobby could just see Mickey trying to bite the false nose with an expression of amazement on his face.

Mr Timothy Tick sat forward as Mickey Mosquito relaxed and sat back on his chair. This is Mr Tick's story. "My friend Thomas Tick and I were together when we heard someone say that a lady in Wild Town had bought a calf. We both wanted to have a taste of him and didn't know how to get there before each other, to stake our claim. Thomas thought more quickly than I and said "I've heard that the calf is fed with medicine that makes his blood poisonous to ticks so I'll not try him. I value my life." I thought it out and decided that my life was also too precious and so I went home and forgot the calf. Two days later Theresa came to me and said "Have you heard? Isn't it awful? Tabbitha came and told me that Thomas went after that new calf and the calf was sent away again because that woman found a tick on it and Thomas has never been heard of since."

After a silence that lasted a few minutes while the assembled Insect People thought their own thoughts Mr Jimmy Jigger-Flea cleared his throat and said "Well, I guess it's my turn now. I went adventuring up to the Wild Town three days ago and took a funny tasting bite out of Mr Samson's big toe - I specialise in big toes you know - but after a few mouthfuls I was very, very sick. I heard afterwards that Mr Samson is having his feet treated for corns and poor I had eaten corn plaster instead of toe!" After the laughter had died down each insect had his or her turn to tell their stories, to the enjoyment of everyone.

Last but not least came Miss Bonita Butterfly. She leant forward and said "I have been wondering just where I had seen Bobby before. I was on the village green. I was sipping nectar from a primrose when all of a sudden I found myself fluttering helplessly in a net. Three boys laughed gaily over my capture but then a fourth boy came up to them, saw my plight and said "No boys. Not that one. She's too pretty." The others laughed at him and then they started to fight over which one of them should have me for their collection. The boy who was holding the net threw it down after he had received a punch, so that he could use his arms to fight back. Now they all turned on the fourth boy, Bobby, and while he got quite a spanking I managed to wriggle free and flew off home. Bobby, I thank you from the tips of my wings."

Everyone clapped their hands and laughed while poor Bobby grew very red in the face. Then Mr Tick looked at his watch and said "Well folks, all good things must come to an end. Good night to you all." and everyone echoed "Good night." Bobby went off to bed in Mr and Mrs Tick's spare room saying over and over "I'll never catch butterflies ever again. They're too pretty."

When Bobby awoke again he started up with the sound of Mother's laughter. She said "Very well Bobby dear, you must have had a sweet dream - and butterflies are rather sweet but have you ever seen what funny babies they have? Funny little worms." The next thing Bobby found was two big tears running down his cheeks. "Not Bonnita." he said loyally. "She's too pretty."