Hoppy the Hitchhiker

In a grassland 18 miles north of Fort Collins, Colorado there lived a grasshopper named Hoppy. He was bright green in color, with two large bluish-gray eyes and two thread-like antennae. He was always jumping and flying around the grassland. Whenever his mother Arthra, admonished him to sit quietly and bask in the sun like his younger brother Sloppy, he would start singing and playing music by rubbing his legs against the sides of his abdomen. Hoppy's father Scud, held the record for the longest jump in the Fort Collins grassland.

One day jumping from plant to plant Hoppy reached the edge of the grassland. He was attracted to the lights of the cars zipping by on the highway that connected Fort Collins to Denver. A new Beetle Dune with a young couple inside slowed momentarily before gathering speed. He leapt and landed on the bonnet of the car. Hoppy was thrilled, because he had never seen anything move so fast. The car stopped in front of a brightly lit disco on the outskirts of Greeley. The blast of the music inside shocked as well as delighted Hoppy. Till then he believed no one could make a greater racket than the grasshoppers having fun on a rainy night. He was totally enamored by the brightly flickering stroboscope, and he danced to his heart's content. It was well past midnight when the disco closed, and Hoppy trooped out with the crowd sitting atop the peaked cap of a teenage girl. The girl got in her Aston Martin convertible and sped away. She drove fiercely and reached Longmont in a short while. She brought the car to a screeching halt in front of a large house and rushed inside. Hoppy went to sleep, snuggled warmly under the carpet of the car.