Incy Wincy Rosa

I have to get this done by morning, she muttered to herself. She never liked starting the day without breakfast. Only if the kid across the street stopped screaming! What brought her to this street in the first place? Oh yeah, she remembered as her gaze fell upon the white lilies in the nearby garden, these lovely flowers. She paused for a minute and looked around her, Should be done by sunrise.
“Rosa!”
She heard someone call out her name. She looked sideways to see her friend Old Nick walk up to her.
“Hi Nick!”
“This is not fair, Rosa. You know I’m getting old. I can’t take competition from the likes of you. Go back to your own street.”
“Oh come on Nick, just this one time. Look at all these flowers! How can I not be here?” replied Rosa with a smile she hoped looked sweet.
“This one time, Rosa… this one time,” Old Nick muttered and moved on.
One time, two time… What’s the difference aye? Rosa chuckled to herself. She might have stopped with the one time yesterday but the lady living upstairs was being too clever. She couldn’t let go like that now, can she. Ah, there goes Tiny Red.
“Hey Red!” she called out.
Red looked up to see Rosa working, “Hi Rosa! How are you?”
“I’m ok. I’m trying to get this done by sunrise. How are you?”
Red looked down at his tiny feet, “They took Mother and Father away last week.”
“Oh, you poor little thing!” Rosa felt really sad for Red.
“Maybe, like last time, they will return in a couple of weeks. “
“I’m sure they will,” Rosa assured Tiny Red.
Red sighed, “It’s getting late. I should get going.”
“Good night, Red. You take care. We are all here for you.”
“Thank you Rosa. Good night.”
Poor Tiny Red, Rosa thought. These people just have to stop meddling with our lives. Maybe we should protest. Get everyone from this street together. Who else will fight for our rights! Let morning come. Something should be done. She was a swift worker. In the time she talked to Old Nick and Tiny Red, she had finished what she wanted to. She looked up at the sky. It was starting to get blue.
“Just a small nap,” she muttered to herself and closed her eyes to rest for a bit.
She didn’t hear the rooster cry or the alarms ring. She slept beautifully near the white lilies. She dreamt of Tiny Red.. Tiny Red’s Father was being carried away… There was a long corridor and then a room… footsteps… and then a dog barked!
Huh? She woke up with a start.
The mailman was there and the dog was barking at him. She closed her eyes and stretched on her shiny silver bed. The sun had come up. The kid across the street was screaming. She opened her eyes and sat up on her bed and looked around. Ah, two for breakfast! Rosa was happy. She had her breakfast and started watching the day unfold before her. Mama Red had once remarked how wonderful it would be to hang from the sky and just watch the world go by without being part of it. She always thought of Mama Red in moments like this. Oh, Mama Red! She suddenly remembered about the protest.
“Redddd, Are you around?” Rosa called out hoping Tiny Red was somewhere close by.
“Morning Rosa,” Red replied coming out of his house.
“Red, we have to do something about your Mama and Papa. We can’t let them have their way all the time. This land is ours as much as it is theirs. We should put an end to this. Red, do you hear me? It’s time we stick together. We should protest. We need a name… Red, are you listening to me? We need a name… yes; we shall call ourselves the Green Revolution. Yes, the Green Revolution. Higher mortals of James Street, beware! I’ll make the demands right away,” Rosa became very excited. “First, free Papa Red and Mama Red. Second …,” her voice trailed off.
The boy from the house with the white lilies had opened the door to the garden. He had a glass jar in his hand. He knelt down and opened the jar to let the two ladybugs out.
“Mama!! Papa!!” Tiny Red jumped with joy. He turned to Rosa, “Thank you Rosa!”
Pff, Rosa fumed. So much for protesting!
“You are welcome!” she called out instead.
She went back to lazing around in her bed waiting for lunch time. I wonder where the lady is today. Her bed was comfortable — a web snuggled between the handles of the lady’s cycle. She lay down to look at the sky through the trees. The leaves were a nice green, flowers in full bloom. Birds around, bees around… Perfect weather for pollination…Rosa began to hum an old song…Oh, it’s getting dark… Is it going to rain? She got up from her bed. The bed had started to shake… Earthquake? She looked around.
And then she saw it coming at her — a huge dried out leaf! “NOOOOO !!!” Rosa screamed. In one swoosh, the leaf swept away the sides of her web. Before she could try hanging onto what was remaining, it caught hold of her and brought her down with it. Midway through, the leaf slid away leaving her behind. She had landed somewhere safe — a soft white carpet that went below her and above her… the carpet seemed to converge at a dark point. She started to walk towards the dark point and then it dawned on her. She had landed on a white lily! Oh, my lily! My sweet sweet lily… Rosa ran to the wall of the huge white petals and hugged it with all her eight legs.
Sitting on his web across two red geraniums, Old Nick, who was watching the whole fiasco, laughed shaking his head, “Rosa, Rosa, Rosa…”
Note: The story was written in the summer of 2014 when I had to remove a spider’s web from my cycle every morning for a few days.

