There Needs To Be Harmony

Afternoon. Gaius, Sweezus and Arthur leave the Melbourne Museum on their bikes and head for St Kilda.

Terence is in Sweezus's back pack. The top is open.

If Terence stands on the cardboard Museum Box, he can see all the palaces.

The Elegant Parrot is perched on Arthur's shoulder.

Arthur hates this, but Gaius has insisted.

Gaius is having tooth trouble. A piece of pencil broke off when he used it as a toothpick in the Museum Cafe. Now it is wedged where the raspberry seed used to be.

In the cardboard Museum box, the Green Grocer Cicada is having second thoughts already:

What is the essential difference, he wonders, between this and his seven years underground? Seven years that he doesn't remember. An existential weight bears down upon him. (It's largely Terence). He knocks on the lid of his box.

The riders ride through St Kilda, towards Dandenong.

Squawk! says the Elegant Parrot, in Arthur's ear.

What is it? asks Arthur.

One raspberry seed doesn't go very far, says the Elegant Parrot.

Didn't you eat it? says Arthur.

I ate it, says the Elegant Parrot. And I see where your thinking is going. But I wasn't referring to distance.

So you're still hungry, says Arthur.

My Parrot is hungry, says Terence, to Sweezus.

It's a bird, says Sweezus. Tell it to fly off and find something.

NO! says Terence. We might lose my Parrot. We have to stop in a minute.

When are we stopping? asks Sweezus.

We're not stopping, says Gaius. Not till we get to the plateau.

By now they are passing through Narre Warren.

But not stopping.

Thud, thud. Knock, knock.

Terence, says Sweezus. Can you STOP that!

It's my cicada, says Terence. It's knocking my feet all the time.

Are you standing on it? asks Gaius. I suggest you get off, before the lid breaks.

Terence stamps harder.

The lid breaks.

Ha ha! cries Terence. You were RIGHT!

The Green Grocer Cicada emerges.

Takes a deep breath. A-heuuuh!

And announces: I don't wish to continue.

Gaius, Sweezus and Arthur slow their rhythm.

Terence says loudly: SEE!

No one sees, says the Green Grocer Cicada. But if this is being out I might as well be in, that's all I'm saying.

Do you want your lid fixed? asks Terence.

NO! cries the Green Grocer Cicada. I want to be accorded some dignity.

This is rich. He is the only one who was accorded a box. But you can't please some creatures.

Gaius thinks quickly. There needs to be harmony in any society. Not just between the elites but the plebeians as well. He decides to sacrifice a modicum of time in the interests of harmony.

Right! says Gaius. We'll make a short stop in Bunyip!

Yippee! cries Terence.

Seeds! cries the Parrot.

What do I get? asks the Green Grocer Cicada.

Sorted out properly, says Gaius.

He really doesn't know yet.

But it will be good to stop in Bunyip.

He hopes there is a chemist in Bunyip. If there is, he will send Arthur in to buy dental floss.