Once upon a time there was a simple little flea. The flea hopped from place to place like any other flea and it had its favorite spots. Fleas always have favorite spots. Some fleas like legs, others like arms, and still others like places that can't be mentioned without a parental advisory. Regardless, this simple little flea liked backs. It liked the middle of backs to be exact so that it couldn't be distrubed.

His previous owner having rolled around in the dirt, our little flea was hopping about looking for a new food source, preferably one that wasn't as hairy as the sheep dog. He hopped along when he saw it. It was beautiful, though indeed it was covered by something blue, or the shade of gray insects percieve as blue. Nonetheless, the flea instantly fell in love with its new home.

He hopped faster in glee and then launched himself forward, clinging to the top of the blue fabric. It was one of those shirt things his friend had been telling him about. The other flea had told him that humans were quite different from the dogs and cats in the area and that he recomended them highly.

The flea looked down the shirt colar. There wasn't any hair and all he could see was skin, perfectly soft and white. It called to him and even had a landing platform right where he needed to spring up to go to his favorite spot. The flea jumped and dove, landing on the platform before springing up just a bit above. He sat there a bit. He didn't know where to start first and he could barely contain his drool. The skin was unblemished and was pure. It was soft to sit in and he almost could go to sleep in contentment. Yet, he was hungry and there was food - <b>plenty</b> of food. He looked around where he was sitting and then crawled over a bit when his food shook. He stopped and braced himself. He watched the shoulders above him roll back and the platform moved slightly with the motion. He stayed still. Sometimes they did this when he moved before he struck.

The movement lasted only a bit and the simple flea sighed in pure relief. He hadn't been discovered, but it wasn't as though he was an undercover flea. They would know he was there soon enough.

He took one last look and then he bit down, savoring blood that tasted sweeter than any he had tasted before.

"Annie, are you okay?" Jannell looked up over her hand of cards. The two girls were sitting outside on the patio playing Go Fish.

Annie finished rolling her shoulders and brushed a sandy lock out of her eyes. "Yeah, just felt something strange." She rolled her shoulders one last time and then she asked, "Got any sevens?"

Jannell grumbled and handed over her seven as Annie took it and placed it with another on the concrete floor. They were alone for a bit, their parents having gone to the movies on a group date.

Annie reached up and moved her bra clasp up and down. She itched, but it was tiny and the scratching movement soothed it somewhat even if it was bellow the actual annoyance. Her hand returned to her cards and she asked, "Got any tens?"

That had been close, almost too close. The flea watched the platform move up and down and then he returned about his business. This was what he lived for. The thrill of almost dying. He had picked this spot because not even a cat with its contortionist ways could get him. He bit down again and drank faster, that always made them twitch more. He liked how they could never reach him.

"Got any fives?" Jannell asked, her short curly red hair blowing in the breeze.

"Go Fish," Annie answered and reached around, snaking her hand up towards the itch. It was worse than before. She came so close to it but couldn't reach it. Her fingernails were long and sharp so itches were gone almost instantly, but even her long nails couldn't get at it and the theory of scratching around an itch to make it go away wasn't working.

Jannell drew her cards and watched her friend scratch in a strained motion before Annie gave up and returned to her cards. "Got any nines?"

The flea laughed to himself and began to eat around the first bite. If he stayed in one place and even rebit the areas he had bitten, he would be safe from his food. It had always worked and he knew what to do incase it looked like he was about to die.

Jannell set her cards down as she watched Annie subconsciously reached over her shoulder to the itch, again coming millimeters from it. Jannell stood up.

"What are you doing?" Annie made a move to stand, but Jannell held out her hand in a motion for her to stay seated.

The flea's auditory sensors pricked at the noise. He knew this kind of movement. His food was calling in for help. He frowned and climbed back up on the platform. He had to get out before the help knew he was there.

Jannell didn't notice the black dot shoot out of her friend's t-shirt as she sat down behind Annie. She looked at the wrinkles on the shirt and then scratched where the wrinkles met, feeling Annie lean into it. "There. I got the right spot, right?"

"Yeah," Annie murmured. Ever since she was a little kid, she loved having her back scratched. It had been so long since someone had and the fact that she had an itch they were scratching made it even better. Although Jannell's nails were bitten and stubby, it still felt great, but the itch still was there, lurking.

The flea had made it out just in time. He hopped over to the corner of the patio and watched as another human began running her fingers in circles on his food where he'd bitten it. That always ruinned his work when they did that. He surveyed them and prepared to leave when he paused. Normally when a person came over to an animal he would leave, but this was a person saving a person.

The flea jumped up and hopped over to the food and the food's help. He wondered if the helper tasted as good as the food. He jumped up highly and perched on pink fabric much like the blue fabric he'd been on previously. His food had her eyes closed and was really getting into the movement of the help. He then thought up a plan.

He dove down to the platform just like in the other food, thankful for it. He wondered what would happen when he encounted a human without one since there weren't any hairs to grasp onto to stop his fall. He survyed his new quary. He wondered if this human would taste different. He considered how suspicious it would be if he bit this one in the same place where he bit food.

He jumped up and dove for the shoulder blades and bit the help deep to make her pay for ruining his meal before he crawled over and bit the other shoulder blade before settling in the middle of the back where he would be even more out of reach.

Jannell rolled her shoulders. She had a few very small itches on her back. She lightened her pressure on Annie in her surprise and tried to scratch the itches against the back of her shirt.

Annie frowned. "Harder, Jannell," she pleaded. The itch was more intense now that the scratching was lighter.

"Just a sec," Jannell replied and reached down at one of her shoulder blades, grazing the surface with her bitten nails. She could barely touch the itch, but she couldn't effectively scratch it and she grunted as she tried to force her hand down farther. Then she groaned slightly and walked her other arm up to the middle of her back, or as close to it as she could. She twisted her torso in several directiosn trying to effectively scratch it, but her fingers only grazed it, her flexibility hindered at the drawback.

Annie noted her friend and then she spoke. "Turn around."

Jannell did, still trying to get at the three itches, the middle one the worst of all. As soon as she began to turn, the flea jumped out just as Annie's manicured nails attacked Jannell's back.

The flea decided that he couldn't just leave the pair. It was true that he had almost died twice now, but his plan would insure his life if he could read the movements right.

Hopping away from the girls, he jumped right down Annie's shirt and picked up exactly where he left off.

Annie rolled her shoulders, trying to scratch her back with her shirt. The itch was worse than ever and she couldn't ask Jannell to scratch it given her predicament. Annie whimpered slightly and leaned back as she tried to scratch. Her nails went in circles around Jannell's back, getting softer as she became preoccupied as the itch moved slightly upwards. She then took her hands away and began trying to reach the itch.

Jannell felt her back flare up when Annie stopped and a few moments later, it seemed to get worse and the itch bigger. She reached back and tried to scratch where she itched, but it was no use with her stubby nails.

The flea had almost been caught. He hadn't expected food to reach back and almost touch him. He had gone too far up. Now he was feeding on help and dodging her hands which simply pushed him about at times. He took turns hopping between the two who were sitting close enough together that he could hop from one collar to the other. They tasted much better than dogs but his space was running out and he was getting too close to dying.

Annie looked over at Jannell. She stretched her arms into various angels and spoke hurriedly, "If you scratch my back as hard as you can, I'll scratch yours."

Jannell nodded and reluctantly moved her hands away as she faced Annie's back. The flea was taking advantage of the open spaces and her back began to fill up with tiny itches as she scratched as hard and as fast as she could. The more she wanted to scratch her own back, the harder and faster she scratched Annie's.

Finally Annie resisted what she wanted and spoke, "Okay, we'll switch now."

The flea felt the shoulders stop moving and he hopped out of Jannell's shirt just as the girls got into the other position so that Annie could scratch Jannell. He hopped instantly into Annie's shirt and bit her up just as he had to Jannell. Annie rolled her shoulders and tried to resist the urge to scratch madly at all the new itches.

Finally the flea heard something. He hopped out of Annie's shirt to take a look. Across the way someone was coming out onto their own patio. They were obscured by the pine trees, but he knew this human was different from the girls who had switched positions again.

Deciding to investigate, he hopped his way over to the fence and catapulted himself over, landing on the other porch. A human without their shirt on was getting ready to lie out in the sun. The flea watched. He had once gone with a dog to the beach and saw that humans sunbathed on their backs or their fronts.

Jeremy straightened out the lawn chair and looked up at the sun. It wasn't in the dangerous hours for sunburning, so he should be fine. He wanted to get a tan before he went to the beach and had to put on sunblock. Turning on the radio, he adjusted the dial and then flopped on to the long beach chair face down.

The flea couldn't believe his luck. Although this human didn't have one of those platforms. He studied this human for a moment and then hopped over. A platform really didn't matter if they were lying down.

The flea hopped up onto this human's back and then found just the right spot. Sitting down, he admired it and then he bit. This one didn't have a helper so he would be able to eat in peace.

<b>The End</b>