Grasshopper

Grasshopper
Photo by Boris Smokrovic / Unsplash

If it was summer and if it wasn't raining and if the sun was making the
last third of its journey back towards the horizon, you could bet on
finding Calvin running though the expansive field of tall grass behind
the hospital, chasing the large grasshoppers from blade to blade, hoping
to catch one and hold it in his hands and maybe even place it in a
mayonnaise jar with a stick and a leaf and see if it would do anything
special. On this particular day, it just happened to be summer and just
happened not to be raining.

Calvin ran quickly through the grass, sending grasshopper after
grasshopper into flight away from the giant intruder. They flew into the
air like a flock of birds, coordinated, moving as one, settling on a
patch of grass several feet away. The object of Calvin's pursuit was a
particularly oversized grasshopper with orange markings along the sides
of its body. His wingspan was the largest Calvin had ever seen and
instead of buzzing back and forth quickly, the wings flapped up and down
like a bird's. It was a very pretty grasshopper and he was determined to
catch it.