Some day, he may well take Mr. Slick up on that 'someone to talk to'. Not because he's particularly bereft of friendship or suffering from trauma of late, but Cricket is a firm believer in 'the more friends, the merrier'.

"Bet someone's got magic that could make it go faster," he says with a grin. "But I hate to cheat. When the weather breaks, though, I'd be happy for a trip to the library. There's computers there, too. Sometimes I listen to music while I read there."