Prison Cricket woke up my quiet cell, which was now an insomniac’s cell. He had arrived the previous night, gotten himself comfortable and decided to stay.
I had been sitting alone when I noticed the visitor, and my melancholic face sprang to life with a smile.
The crack at the bottom of my door was a welcome mat to any creature small enough to slip in for a friendly visit. I imagined they were coming to say hello and chit-chat with a lonely prison inmate the way creatures would if they could.
As the cricket sat there looking up at me, I felt like he was saying, “Are you a friendly human monster? Will you allow me to stay awhile while I pitch my cricket pick up line into the airwaves, searching for a date with a pretty cricket girl of my own cricket kind?
Pretending that he could understand, I responded, “Yes, you can stay! What do you and your cricket girl want to eat on your first date? I can be your chef and waiter, and you can impress your date with the fine establishment you’ve been invited to.”
“First I have to call my cricket girl,” Prison Cricket seemed to say. He found a cozy corner underneath a towel and proceeded to chirp.
At first I didn’t mind at all. But then I began to get tired and turned off the light. Prison Cricket just kept chirping away as happily as ever.
As you might guess, I didn’t get much sleep that night. But I so wanted to meet his cricket girl that I stayed awake and waited up with him. Both of us happily chirped away throughout the prison night — just me and Prison Cricket.