Chpt 4
And so the day of work went past. 5 pm. Turtle had had a long day starting from her early-morning exploration. When Toad gathered her bag and urged her on, she felt that curiosity couldn't paramount lethargy. "Don't feel like going." was what she said to an amused Toad. He knew how it was like when a home-going routine was disrupted after the first wave of excitement had passed, and so wasn't annoyed with Turtle's somewhat less than steadfast attitude. "Come on. It's just a walk. Think about the story you could bring home." There and then he gave a resonating pat on Turtle's shell and went on. Her bag being around Toad's neck, Turtle had no choice but to follow.
When they got to the dewormification unit Beaver had finished dewormifying the batch of that day quite a while ago. To their surprise the beavers never leave IME. A slice of the quadrant of their department was compartmented to be their living quarters. This little space, contrary to their work place, is brightly lit and gay in atmosphere. Toad and Turtle couldn't conceive that these were the same beavers who tear at worms in gloomy darkness during the day. There were about eighty bunks, each five storeys high. Leaning comfortably against his bedpost on the fourth storey of Bunk Number R36D0.8, our Beaver was behind a book called "The Human Beings: Do They Really Exist?" He made himself visible by putting it down and called out, "Hey, over here."
"I can never get up there," Turtle took one look at the vertical challenge presented by Beaver's location and said.
"Didn't ask you to. I need to keep it tidy up here you know." With one swish of his big tail Beaver slid down promptly. The lowest bed was conveniently empty, and he bid the two to make themselves comfortable.
"So I see you don't need to keep others' beds tidy?" Turtle's sarcasm came out as a grumble. Beaver explained patiently, "No occupants on this bed." Toad looked at both and hastily asked, "Ok, so where do we begin?"
And so Beaver told his story.
"I come from the Kingdom of Mondo Nero. It is the land of darkness underneath your ice and snow and underground caves. The ancient Pangolines of our Mondo, who are grey scaled ant-eaters, built the tracks of your Ice-Glider trains. Their mastery of stone crafts and sculpture was unrivalled and had been passed down through generations of dwellers for millions of years. Our land was once abustle with activities just like yours does. We dug close enough to the heart of earth that we could hear it beat. We illuminate our homes like crystal palaces without the need for any trace of natural Light. And you can never imagine the intricacy of the connections, the extraordinary pathways that led from one city to another. They are incredibly ingenuous works of architecture."
Turtle thought, at this point, "Who'd want to be shut in an underground maze like that? I could probably never tell which way I'm going." But asked instead, "Er.. so where do you.. when you go to work, do you take the Gl.. something? Or just walk those intricate pathways? Must take quite a while, no?"
"We don't travel all that much except those who need to. Most of what we need are built near around us. The Hedgehogs dust and clean with their bristles. They sometimes do landscape design. We beavers have exceptional eyesight and are able to find things very quickly in the dark. Most of us help local masons sort rocky materials by their quality, colour, hardness; or keep records of historical events. For we read a lot.
"Wow. I guess it must take some getting used to to read in bright light then," Toad looked around the room and remarked.
Beaver explained, "We do illuminate our places. It's easier to do when there's no external light interfering, like drawing on blank paper." And then his countenance turned dark and dismal.
"A year ago. It all happened at that time - all of those creations and designs were wiped out. An unknown disease started spreading from some households and quickly went out of control. Corpses soon increased beyond the capacity for proper burial. Yes, even though we are already underground we do have burials. Corpses were pushed into our beautiful Wistaria Lake. Bereaved family members had to turn out the half-decayed bodies of their dying loved ones for fear of infection, but they fell sick themselves and died anyway. A putrid smell was in the air the whole time. Many pathways were blocked totally with corpses. Cities were stranded on their own with death, and one by one fell to silence."
When they got to the dewormification unit Beaver had finished dewormifying the batch of that day quite a while ago. To their surprise the beavers never leave IME. A slice of the quadrant of their department was compartmented to be their living quarters. This little space, contrary to their work place, is brightly lit and gay in atmosphere. Toad and Turtle couldn't conceive that these were the same beavers who tear at worms in gloomy darkness during the day. There were about eighty bunks, each five storeys high. Leaning comfortably against his bedpost on the fourth storey of Bunk Number R36D0.8, our Beaver was behind a book called "The Human Beings: Do They Really Exist?" He made himself visible by putting it down and called out, "Hey, over here."
"I can never get up there," Turtle took one look at the vertical challenge presented by Beaver's location and said.
"Didn't ask you to. I need to keep it tidy up here you know." With one swish of his big tail Beaver slid down promptly. The lowest bed was conveniently empty, and he bid the two to make themselves comfortable.
"So I see you don't need to keep others' beds tidy?" Turtle's sarcasm came out as a grumble. Beaver explained patiently, "No occupants on this bed." Toad looked at both and hastily asked, "Ok, so where do we begin?"
And so Beaver told his story.
"I come from the Kingdom of Mondo Nero. It is the land of darkness underneath your ice and snow and underground caves. The ancient Pangolines of our Mondo, who are grey scaled ant-eaters, built the tracks of your Ice-Glider trains. Their mastery of stone crafts and sculpture was unrivalled and had been passed down through generations of dwellers for millions of years. Our land was once abustle with activities just like yours does. We dug close enough to the heart of earth that we could hear it beat. We illuminate our homes like crystal palaces without the need for any trace of natural Light. And you can never imagine the intricacy of the connections, the extraordinary pathways that led from one city to another. They are incredibly ingenuous works of architecture."
Turtle thought, at this point, "Who'd want to be shut in an underground maze like that? I could probably never tell which way I'm going." But asked instead, "Er.. so where do you.. when you go to work, do you take the Gl.. something? Or just walk those intricate pathways? Must take quite a while, no?"
"We don't travel all that much except those who need to. Most of what we need are built near around us. The Hedgehogs dust and clean with their bristles. They sometimes do landscape design. We beavers have exceptional eyesight and are able to find things very quickly in the dark. Most of us help local masons sort rocky materials by their quality, colour, hardness; or keep records of historical events. For we read a lot.
"Wow. I guess it must take some getting used to to read in bright light then," Toad looked around the room and remarked.
Beaver explained, "We do illuminate our places. It's easier to do when there's no external light interfering, like drawing on blank paper." And then his countenance turned dark and dismal.
"A year ago. It all happened at that time - all of those creations and designs were wiped out. An unknown disease started spreading from some households and quickly went out of control. Corpses soon increased beyond the capacity for proper burial. Yes, even though we are already underground we do have burials. Corpses were pushed into our beautiful Wistaria Lake. Bereaved family members had to turn out the half-decayed bodies of their dying loved ones for fear of infection, but they fell sick themselves and died anyway. A putrid smell was in the air the whole time. Many pathways were blocked totally with corpses. Cities were stranded on their own with death, and one by one fell to silence."
posted by Azzurra | 2:26 PM
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