O Grandpa Do

All is not well in Belle's panier velo.

The frogs have damaged the carrot.

Stop jumping! cries Terence.

They stop. But it's too late now.

What's happened? asks Belle, slowing down.

Look! says Terence.

Belle stops altogether, and looks at the damage that the frogs have done to the carrot.

The carrot, already soft and flaccid from its river adventures, has turned mushy around the o-ring.

Ooh, says Belle. This is no good.

I know, says Terence. The frogs did it.

They never liked the carrot, says Belle. I shouldn't have put them together.

Now what? asks Terence.

Let me think, says Belle.

We're sorry, says the knowlesi. We thought it was rubbery.

It was, says Quiet-tartus. Rubbery. Until it went mushy.

Carrot! squeaks the carrot. 

I may have to throw it away, says Belle. Which would be a pity, as it was gift from that nice gardening woman.

How about we squeeze it? says Terence. Then the mushy bits will ooze out.

But will it still hang together? asks Belle. I guess there's one way to find out.

She picks up the carrot. Presses its two ends together. The mushy parts ooze out.

She wipes away the mushy parts with her finger.

Wipes her finger on her bicycle seat. 

Yuck. Regrets it.

Checks the carrot. Has it remained in one piece?

Well yes, but only thanks to a thin fibrous core down the middle.

Give it to me, says Terence.

She gives it to Terence.

Terence holds the carrot by two sad feathery carrot leaves.

Swings it.

The o-ring falls off.

Terence puts the o-ring back into his pocket.

Carrot, murmurs the carrot.

Give it here, says Belle. I'll tie it to your damp shorts at the back of my back pack. If it dries out in the wind, it might stiffen up again.

Stiffen up again, saya Terence. Hear that, frogs?

Stiffen up again, says the knowlesi. Let us pray.

We don't need to pray, says Quiet-tartus. What are you?

Ommmm, says the knowlesi.

That's not praying, says Terence. This is praying: O grandpa, do something!

Please do something, says Belle.

Please do something, says Terence. I don't usually say that.

You don't usually say O grandpa do something, says Belle.

Because it doesn't work, says Terence.

It might this time, says Belle. 

She ties the fine-waisted carrot to Terence damp shorts, (which are almost dry now), and continues cycling towards Le Havre.

The carrot looks back along the road they have travelled, hoping to glimpse Terence's grandpa.