Challenge Accepted

I miss Tony. 

It wasn’t too long ago that he was snatched up by a flying feathered monster. When I saw the monster diving down from the heavens, I screamed at him to run, but he was stuck in his own slime. It always happens when we turn around. We get stuck in our slime. I should be glad it didn’t get me, and if it weren’t for a loud rumbling machine that whizzed by and scared off the monster I’d be gone too. I’m on my way to find his hermaphromate Celia to tell her the sad news.  I hope that some giant with a stick doesn’t poke me again on my way back to the food jungle.

That’s where I first met Tony and Celia. The giant that poked me with the stick picked me up and tossed me into the havens. I landed on a pile of soft soggy leaves. Confused and bruised, I headed east. In hindsight, I was on my way to the food jungle, and the flying trip saved me some time, but now my left eye antennae is crooked and won’t go up all the way. Celia said this gives me character, but it still hurts when it’s not raining.

I hope it rains soon. I don’t want Celia to follow the glittered slime trail that Tony left behind, and the rain will wash it away.

It’s taken me four days to reach the big red fruit tree. It’s been cold outside, and I could really use a snack. My favorite is the curly leaf bushes that I once heard a giant refer to as lett-uss. Let us eat it, I thought. It’s the tastiest food in the jungle. Celia lives under the rippled tall green bush, next door to the curly leaf. I’ve been staying with them since I got here.

I finally found Celia by the dimpled yellow balls. She’s slime-arrific! She has a big round mid-section, and leaves pretty purple slime behind her. When I told her the news about Tony, her reaction surprised me.

“Thank God he’s gone! Not that I didn’t care for him, but he was always out all night in the fields of bay zeal. He stank up our place with that stench, and it made him cranky. I don’t know why he went there all the time.”

She’s glad he’s gone?!?

“Look Steve, I couldn’t tell you this before, but I’ve liked you from the moment I saw your crooked eye. I like the way you chew the curly leaf, and you’ve got a big heart.”

“I- I- ummmm… But what about Tony?”

She eyed me from both sides. “Some things are better left in the past. We had a good go of it, but my heart wasn’t really in it. Besides, he was old. If it wasn’t the feathers, it would have been the salt. Let’s think about the future. Our future.”

“I- I-… I’ve wanted to slime with you since I got here too, Celia. I just didn’t think you’d ever want to…”

“Shut up and slime me you soggy son-of-a-bitch.”