Sky Painter and Manty

Sky Painter
took a break
from his never ending job
of painting the sky.
Once, he took a vacation
and the sky was blue
for a whole month.
This time, he was only going to leave
for a few hours.
He climbed down his giant ladder
thinking that one of these days
he'll get a parachute
and float gentle as a feather
back to Earth.

He jumped the last couple rungs
landing in his garden
The apples were shiney red
and the oranges were bright orange
As he took a bite
out of the corner of his eye
he spied a most wonderful site:
There, standing on a leaf, just inches from his nose,
stood a Praying Mantis.

This Mantis was not praying though,
he was waving his limbs around
trying to get Sky's attention.
That is when Sky began to hear what the insect was saying:
"Finally! What's a bug got to do to gain your attention?"
Sky was too dumbfounded to speak.
"Well, I just want to say, that I am happy to be here. I figured I'd have more of an audience...
but I am just starting out so I should be happy with just one."

"Huh?" Sky almost coughed out. "Are you some kind of performer? A magic bug? An alien?..."

"HA, HA, HA. No, to all of your ridiculous and silly guesses. I am a comedian."

This was enough to make Sky laugh and chuckle a bit. "Well then, tell me a joke."

"Alrighty then, why don't ants get sick?"

"Don't know."

"Because they got little anty bodies."

"Heh, heh... that's pretty good... I'm gonna remember that."

The praying mantis was going to tell some more but Sky Painter looked at his watch and said: "Hey, I only have a few hours before I have to start painting the sky some more. There's a band playing at a festival here in Ojai. Do you want to come?"

"Sure" said the big green bug. "By the way, what's your name?"

"I am Sky Painter. What's yours?"

"You can call me Manty."

So Sky scooped up Manty, put him in his dredlocks, got in his black Ford Mustang, and drove to Libbey Park. The music played on and on and Sky danced and danced while Manty rested in his blonde dreds and prayed for peace.

Soon enough, Sky met some girls and showed them his new friend, Manty. They squealed with laughter and joy as they held and hugged the funny green bug. Manty played it cool. He's a bit wary of the female species. The key to his longevity is remaining celibate. If he mated with another praying mantis then she'd eat him afterwards. The girls loved Manty. They loved Sky for bringing him. They thought the whole concept was hilarious. They promised Manty that they would not eat him. "I'm a vegetarian," said Jiggs.

Manty relaxed and went with the flow. He eyed the stage hungrily, wondering when he'd get his big break. "I'd knock'em dead if I just got a chance," he sighed.

Meanwhile the girls began text messaging various friends about Manty. They said things like: "Manty wears a thong!" and "Manty for president!"

Little did they know that Sky instantaneously intercepted their transmissions and he was furious. "How can you say such things!" he roared. "Manty is a monk, he'd never wear a thong!" he said with a dark frown. "You are stealing my concept! I have been drawing pictures in the sky of praying manti for aeons. How can you desecrate something I consider sacred?!"

The girls were stunned. They had no idea that their actions would be interpreted in such a way. They were just having fun and did not want to cause anybody pain.

Sky Painter grabbed Manty, put him back in his hair, hopped in his black Mustang and drove back to his garden. He had a sunset to paint, this one was gonna have some storm clouds.