Inspire

On a Hot Summer Day

The sun hovered over the cloudless sky, mercilessly burning the ground. If I stay here any longer, I would be burned to death. But I can't fly like the coir of cicadas and harbor under the leaves. I can't go into the soil like the snails, I'd be stuck. I can't go to the sandpit because the troop of ants doesn't want me meddling with their newly built house. Just when I was about to succumb to the heat, a kid and his mom came out with a bowl of cold punch. I eyed the water vapor steaming from the cold drink and dreamed about how good it would be for me to take a sip. Should I die here or should I hop across what seemed like a million miles to reach the shimmering drink on the wooden table across the yard? There's not much to live now, but I have to live the rest of it to the fullest. So I jump.

I used the last gust of my energy to hop on the bench next to the table. And god did I suffer. The bench is made out of steel and it sizzled. Literally. I readied myself and jumped again. Now I'm really exhausted. But if I just force myself one...More...Step...I would be saved. I lied on the wooden table for a while, just to get my energy back. Then, I mustered up all my strength and moved a few inches and set my limp body on the cooling glass bowl. It felt amazing. Despite the moistness of the glass, the breeze spread from my back to every corner of my body. I aimed my beady eyes at the top of the bowl. The tempting liquid seemed to smirk at me deliciously. There are ice cubes and lemon slices floating on top. They seemed to invite me to their pool party. The punch is my savior, with a halo, it would definitely be my guardian angel. I desperately wanted to leap in and join them but my feet stuck on the ground and just didn't want to budge. I tried again and sprang into the punch, landing with a 'doof'' on the chilling slice of lemon. What a good place for a nap. I made it after all, what's to worry about?

After dozing for a while, I heard the little boy scream. "Eeek, mom! There's a grasshopper in the punch! Ew!" The mom gazed up at the cloudy sky. Cloudy? When did it turn cloudy? "Just leave the punch there, it's going to rain soon! Let's go!" She ushered her son and left me there in the punch bowl. Rain in the summer comes without warning, it started to pour down. I tried to jump away but the slice of lemon was stuck on me and along with the lemon, I tumbled into the sticky punch. Drowning in a bowl of punch in the pouring rain. Don't worry, I'm not upset at all. I lived my life to the fullest and it ended peacefully in a delicious bowl of punch. Farewell.

The next day, the little boy came out to get the bowl back. He found a lifeless green body floating in the punch. "Huh, it must have drowned in the punch. Poor bug." He mumbled as he dumped the punch and picked up the grasshopper to bury. However, no one knew what happened to the grasshopper on a hot summer day.

A/N: This was inspired by my Chinese exam XD We were required to write an essay about a hot summer day so I wrote it from a grasshopper's perspective. I found it interesting so I translated it.