Double-Header! Under the Cabbage Leaves AND Don't Mind The Pupae (900 words)

My prompt over at https://moreoddsthanends.home.blog/2020/05/06/week-19-of-odd-prompts/ came from Becky Jones:

Going through the pile of vegetables (pick your favorite veggies) at the farmers market, you feel something push at your hand. Looking down, you see a small face looking up at you. Who’s hiding in the veggies and why?

Hum... Who's hiding under the cabbage leaves? Is Gil shopping? For home? With his dog? 

Some possible ideas. Gil finds three baby fairies/pixies? Harold finds a giant Caterpillar alien? Somebody finds greenbacks, escaping migrant workers, hiding in the vegetables?

Under the Cabbage Leaves (450 words)

By Mike Barker

Gil enjoyed his day off. He took Monster, the three headed dog, with him to the farmers market in the park nearby. The sunshine was warm, and he laughed, because he never knew just what he might find there. Last week, someone had black carrots. He bought one bunch, and shaved them into his salad all week. It looked like beet shavings, but tasted like crunchy carrots.

This week, they seemed to have a lot of mushrooms. He liked mushrooms, but he was really looking for leafy greens. Then he found a table covered with green. Lots of lettuce. Oh, cabbages!

He lifted one of the cabbages, and something moved. He remembered finding a big slug on one of the cabbages here, so he wasn't too surprised. But he pulled back his hand anyway.

Then the leaf lifted, and a tiny head poked out. Tousled hair, bright green eyes, a little button nose, a wide grin, and ears… Spock had ears like that, didn't he? What?

Then the little head spoke.

"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

Gil chuckled and shook his head.

"No, this isn't Oz. And this isn't Toto either."

He shook the leash, and Monster growled.

Then two more heads poked out of the pile of cabbages. They spoke in harmony.

"We're triplets! We were supposed to go to someone who found us in the Cabbage Patch, but this farmer picked the cabbages before anyone came! We need a home..."

Then they climbed out of the cabbages. Monster stepped closer, and each of the little winged fairies carefully stepped onto one of his heads. Then Monster turned toward him, and all of them grinned at him as he blinked and held his hand to his forehead. Somehow he didn't think adopting three fairies from the Cabbage Patch at the farmers market was really a good idea. Although they were cute. And Monster liked them.

"All right. But I need to buy some vegetables."

He started to pick up a cabbage, and one of them shook his head.

"Not that one. It's worm-eaten inside."

They quickly guided him to pick up two good cabbages, and a head of lettuce. 

He was fascinated that the farmer who sold him the vegetables looked right at Monster, and just chuckled.

"That's a good dog you got there."

The fairies sitting on Monster's heads all nodded their agreement. But the farmer didn't seem to notice the fairies or Monster's extra heads.

Gil wondered what the security folks would say at work. He was definitely going to tell them about this. Of course, they were happy to have him taking care of Monster, so three fairies probably wouldn't be a problem.

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Don't Mind the Pupae (450 words)

By Mike Barker

Harold really enjoyed the fleamarket style farmers market that they held in the central park during the summer. You never knew what you might find. He had stumbled over a sculptured beggar, on his knees throwing a cloth over his shoulders, that was just sitting in the back of one farmer's truck. When he asked about it, the farmer shrugged and named a price. He had been happy to pay that, and now the beggar graced one of his shelves. Today, Harold was just looking for some veggies, and to see what turned up.

He blinked at the cabbages. Something had been chewing on those leaves. Then he noticed the big colored balls among the pale green cabbages. What was that? He shifted a cabbage, and...

A big red head popped up. On top of a blue ball, on top of a green one... And the mouth, it was a typical insect mouth, large choppers closing from the sides, smaller feelers between, but so big! Then the antenna whipped over the top of the head, and two huge eyes were uncovered. No, they were faceted, multiple tiny eyes, but so many of them. And he could swear there were eyelashes on the edges of the lids that slid back.

He fell down. He was just so stunned, he couldn't keep his balance, and he thudded down on his seat.

The red head followed him down, the eyes swaying. Then a voice vibrated out of somewhere in the mouth parts that were working, working, as if chewing.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you like that."

He worked his jaw, and gulped. He looked around, and he could see people running away.

"I... yes, I am alright. But... what are you?"

The mouth parts shook, and there was a chittering sound. He decided that it must be intended as laughter.

"I am... well, let's just say that I was going to have a short visit here on your planet before I spend the next little while meditating in my chrysalis. Then I made the mistake of falling asleep in a field, and the next thing I know, I'm being dumped out here. And then you came along. Tell me, have you ever heard of the migrating habits of the lesser Megallanic Hyperlepidoptera?"

Harold squeezed his eyes shut, then open. Nope, it was still looking at him.

"Lepidoptera? That's a fancy word for butterflies, I think. And the Megallanic clouds are galaxies. But..."

The antenna waved up and down. 

"Exactly! I am an alien! Take me to your leader, and all that. But right now, I really need a place to set up my chrysalis. Do you know where I could safely leave it for a while?"

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