some weird things happen around here..
i remember me and heather had been walking around all night talking and making excited observations about the starry night magic which full moons wash upon Sheffields quiet backstreets, when we came to the pond in the woody park at the deserted end of town. We enjoyed the suggestion of dark ripples coming from the centre of the pond (like there was a lost spacehopper just bobbing beneath the surface) until we realised that the ripples were -actually- there, by which time curiosity was making us skip.
neither of us had any hope of identifying the source of movement, that was for sure. so we just stood there holding hands and smiling, until the ripples became a huge splash, and a large, red spacehopper was launched into the air (where it held for a second) and came plummeting back down to pond with an even bigger splash. The smile on heathers face didnt move (her eyes only got wider), but my mouth fell open in a cartoon gawp.
the lost spacehopper (face up, no expression) came floating towards us, until it came to a stop at the grassy bank that was too our last step. the eyes squinted and the spacehopper-mouth began to open and close like that of a goldfish. there was no sound i could hear, but heather understood. She squeezed my hand and made us run away from the pond and out of the park, where she explained.
What happened was this: the spacehopper had come from somewhere below, and had too much air inside it. The spacehopper had told us, quaintly, that they only eat sweet things, so we jumped home and gathered as many sweet ingredients as we could find. They were cooked into the biggest cake we could make, carried back down to the park and given to our distressed friend. It worked, thankfully- he sank with a smile :-)
neither of us had any hope of identifying the source of movement, that was for sure. so we just stood there holding hands and smiling, until the ripples became a huge splash, and a large, red spacehopper was launched into the air (where it held for a second) and came plummeting back down to pond with an even bigger splash. The smile on heathers face didnt move (her eyes only got wider), but my mouth fell open in a cartoon gawp.
the lost spacehopper (face up, no expression) came floating towards us, until it came to a stop at the grassy bank that was too our last step. the eyes squinted and the spacehopper-mouth began to open and close like that of a goldfish. there was no sound i could hear, but heather understood. She squeezed my hand and made us run away from the pond and out of the park, where she explained.
What happened was this: the spacehopper had come from somewhere below, and had too much air inside it. The spacehopper had told us, quaintly, that they only eat sweet things, so we jumped home and gathered as many sweet ingredients as we could find. They were cooked into the biggest cake we could make, carried back down to the park and given to our distressed friend. It worked, thankfully- he sank with a smile :-)