'Audio version of this story' about 1 hour in 14 tracks.

The Cricket Story

Now on to the story of how I hugged a cricket. No, you don't have a vision problem, I said I hugged a cricket. Well just please read on even if you're skeptical. It's true, I did, in a kinda hugabout way. Remember, I already claimed artistic license. Cricket Story

The purpose of this little story is to avoid arguments about the definitions of the word hug later on. Keep an open mind now, I take lots of artistic license with action verbs in case you haven't already noticed. Particularly verbs that I can convert into some form of the word hug. That's my prerogative as a writer and since this is my story, well...I won't say any more about that but I will help you out here and there at the beginning. Eventually you'll get the hug (hang) of it.

It was three o'clock in the morning. He had invaded my home. I had narrowed it down to the kitchen. He was chirping at the top of his little legs. Legs you say? Yes, crickets don't have lungs. I didn't know that either until someone pointed it out to me when I was writing this story two years ago for class.

Well anyway, very often I had boasted about my talent for finding a blessing in all things, but not in the middle of the night. What was this cricket singing, why did he choose my house? I didn't know, nor did I care. I just wanted to hug (go) back to sleep. But to no avail.

Male crickets, I learned, attempt to attract the female with a "calling song." At 4:09 a.m., between chirps, I realized I was the female he was pursuing. Not the cricket, but God! He decided to answer some questions I had pondered for several months and used this cricket to get my attention. (Aha, the blessing! But why at 4:00 a.m., God?)

The cricket stopped annoying me during the day but struck up his discord again that evening. Determined to find him, I readied myself for action. Peering in every crack, I searched intensely. And finally, there he was, hiding elusively in the crack of my oven door. He was really hugging on now. Swiftly, I turned on the switch and hugged him up with my vacuum, what I didn't know was that he would refuse to give up. His children came to hug (visit) me and I'll finish this story later. Definition of a Hug

Yes, I'm stretching the hug definition, just a little bit, but that cricket definitely was hugging (hanging) on for dear life. I indulge your patience a squeeze more. Dictionaries define hugging as clasping a person with one's arms or to be situated close to or in physical contact with someone. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary takes it a pinch more: probably derived from an old Norse word, hugga. Good grief, what kind of a word is that? When I have 29 hours in a day I'd like to take up the study of etymology but for now we'll fall back on my fading memory. I read somewhere that some words originate by the sound that is made when it is said. Picture this: two big, burly guys throw their arms around each other and the initial sound echos with a thud and a throaty, gutteral noise resembling the word hug. Anyway, hugga means to comfort or console; and is akin to the Anglo-Saxon, hycgan, to think. So just think, this adds another dimension to where we can go with this hugging business.

Since hugs benefit both the hugger and huggee, like Eve was created for Adam, let's think about the various forms: hugs of tradition, hugs of nurture and consolation, hugs of hospitality, hugs of spirituality. Wait a minute, you're shouting out. OK, let's face it, let's address our fears. Admit it, I know some of you have some because I did-still do occasionally.

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