The Jar Of Death Coffee

Terence bends over the mantis shrimp which is fast drying out on the grass.

Baby B-B flutters over.

Listen, says Baby B-B. I made up a poem. It's called 'Mango with you I was happy.......'

That's very good, says Terence. Am I in it somewhere?

No, says baby B-B. It's about the past.

Don't remind me, says Terence.

I didn't, says baby B-B. You asked.

He looks down at the stump of his finger.

There's a gap where the end used to be.

Through the gap he can see the mantis shrimp on the grass turning pinkish.

And gasping. Spah! Spah!

It's cooking, says Terence. I've been watching. When it's bright red it's done.

Done what? asks baby B-B.

Ready, says Terence. For turning into a milkshake. Red, my favourite colour.

You're mean, says baby B-B.

So are you, says Terence, surprised.

No, says baby B-B. I'm sympathetic.

So am I, says Terence. What shall we do?

Rescue him, says baby B-B. Take him back inside the building. Find him some water.

Is that what Mango would do? asks Terence.

Yes, says baby B-B. It's what Mango would do.

........

Gaius, Yakir and Dries return from lunch two hours later.

They drop their bikes on the grass.

Where is Terence? Where is baby B-B?

A broken cement finger lies in the flattened grass, pointing upwards.

.......

Hello, men, says Terence.

Hello, men, says baby B-B.

Hello boys, says Gaius.

Where is my shrimp? asks Dr Yakir. 

In hot water, says Terence.

HOT water! says Dr Yakir. 

And coffee, says baby B-B. We forgot the aquarium was broken.

Coffee, says Dries. Aha. I understand. Baby B-B associates the smell of coffee with his mother.

I'm sorry? says Dr Yakir.

I'm just saying, says Dries, if the shrimp has died, it is a tragedy, and not to be blamed on baby B-B. Or on Terence who has mother issues from way back.

That's right, says Terence. Hey, what's that?

This is your Christmas present, says Gaius. I'm not sure you deserve it. Oh all right. Here you are. You can open it now.

Terence rips off the red paper. Ye-hah! A scooter!

Baby B-B experiences ambivalent feelings. 

He wishes he had asked for a scooter.

Not coffee. Coffee, he now knows, is poison. Coffee kills shrimps. (It was horrible).

Gaius hands him a present wrapped in red Christmas paper.

Slowly he unwraps his jar of death coffee.

But wait. This jar of coffee has wheels! 

O joy and mango! What is it?

You lucky-bum! says Terence. I only got a scooter. You got a hover board!

Wow! A hover board! Just what every bird needs.