Pondering With Brady L.B.

* Continued * "Shhhhhh," Tim hissed to the male penguin.  Dread filled the room, did the Citizen Eaters hear the noise, would they care?  After a few moments the penguin stop yelling from being awoken.  His ghostly eyes looked past Tim into the bleak darkness of death.  His eyes started to fall once again. "Stay wake old man," Tim whispered. His eyes darting open once again, the penguin started to scan the room.  "Who is there?" "Can you not see me?  I stand before you but a few feet." "Are you a ghost?" "I am certainly not!  Are you blind?" "Then why can I not see you?" "What can you see." "Nothing but the darkness of night." "Can you even see your fin?" He lifted up his fin and startled back.  "What happened to my fin.  I cannot see it.  What have you done to me?" "Did you not know you were blind?" "I am not blind, I can plainly se...

* Continued * Tim continued to watch the concentration camp.  He got his first glimpse of the Citizen Eaters and they were as horrible as their description.  Tim noticed that they followed a certain pattern as they patrolled the area.  They left large gaps in their search and they left the back of the complex mostly unguarded.  Over the years the Citizen Eaters must have gotten tiered of patrolling areas that they thought were never going to have someone there. Tim decided that he would get closer to the back of the compound that night.  He looked through his supplies to see if anything would help him in his mission.  In the bottom of his back he found some bolt cutters.  He figured that he could use the bolt cutter to get through the back fence and get the prisoners out during the cover of night. He spent the rest of the day resting so that he would have the energy to sneak around that night.  That night the moon was a haunting red. ...

* Continued * Traveling to the east was slow going.  The paths were rocky and terrain changed in elevation often.  While Tim traveled he thought about his family that he was giving up.  The rocks that were forming in his stomach where harder to traverse then the rock that battered his feet.  Several days later, Tim was almost out of supplies and wanted to turn around to correct his mistake of not going after his family.  He knew that he could not make the journey back with the supplies that he had left.  The only hope he had is to continue forward until he could find more supplies. That night he could see a glimmer of light coming from something several miles in front of him.  The thoughts of a town being in front of him raced through his mind and excited him.  He was too tired to continue that night, so he set up camp and sleep. The next morning Tim got up early and started in the direction of the light that he saw the night before. ...

* Continued * Tim did not want to be around when the Citizen Eaters showed up, but he knew that if he did not have any supplies he would not get very far from the town.  He knew that he would have to give into Rupert's demand of staying until the end of the day. "I guess I will have to stay.  I will need your help to catch up with my family.  Do you know about how far I will have to go to find them?"  Tim inquired to mislead Rupert. "I do not know how far your journey will be or if you will even make it.  The thing that matters right now is that we need to get to the restaurant.  Now, let's get going," Rupert indicated. Rupert's restaurant was not far from the house.  They arrived at their destination within a few minutes of leaving the house.  The restaurant was nothing flashy.  It was a small building that did not look much different than the houses around it.  Inside there were a few tables set up for customers and small ki...

* Continued * "I will be going out on my own," Tim told Rupert.  "I need to find my own path and not be stuck here in a small town."  Tim knew that the words he said would be taken badly.  He did not want Rupert to try to convince him to stay.  To his surprise Rupert did not show any sign of discomfort to what he had said. "Where will you be going?  Are you going after your family or are you going to try and hide from all this?" asked Rupert.  Rupert was trying not to show his feeling to the young penguin.  He was shocked that Tim had been so rude about the place that he called home, but he realized that Tim had gone through a shock and would probably lash out at those who had not hurt him. Tim was taken back by what Rupert had said.  Did he know what he was planning or was he just taking a wild guess?  Tim replied, "Does it matter where I am going?  I am just not going to stay here." "It does matter.  If you are going af...

* Continued * The next morning Rupert opened the door and called in, "Time to get up.  We would not want to waste the day now would we?" Tim shifted in the bed and grunted. "Come on now," indicated Rupert. Rupert did not take a step in the room.  Rupert felt a twinge of fear that he might have to enter the room to wake up Tim.  Rupert banged on the wall in an attempt to wake up the sleeping penguin.  The little penguin moved a little more lively then he had done so far. "I have cooked fresh fish for breakfast and I have to go work soon.  You cannot stay in my house while I am gone.  I am sorry for what happened to your family, but I can't trust you yet to be alone in my house," sternly Rupert communicated. "Can I have a few more minutes?" inquired Tim.  He was fully awake after Rupert banged on the wall.  He did not want to get up.  He felt hopelessness throughout his whole body.  He thought that if he got out of bed that ...

* Continued * "I really want to find them, but I really need to think about what you have said before making up my mind," replied Tim. "Thinking about it would be a great idea," Rupert said. "Until you decide let us eat and get some sleep." The cooked fish was delicious and was welcoming to Tim's stomach. After Tim was done eating the fish, Rupert showed him to a room to sleep in. The room had two kid size beds. The room was quite messy and looked like a few kids still lived in the room. The walls were covered with pictures of mystical creatures that filled the fairy tales that his parents told him.  When Tim got into one of the beds, he felt that he was falling into the hands of death.  The shadows of despair engulfed the room and left unnatural shadows in every corner.  He felt uneasy all over and did not know how to change that feeling. After Rupert had left the room, Tim began to ponder on what he was told. Could this be the room of Rupe...

* Continued (1) * The next morning Rupert woke-up Tim.  Tim's body felt as if he had gotten no sleep. "How are you feeling?" asked Rupert. "I am feeling fine, it is just that I did not get a lot of sleep last night," replied Tim.  "I have decided that I would like to stay here with you.  It is too dangerous to go after my flock and I would not be able to do anything for them anyways." "I am happy that you have decided to stay here with me.  It has been getting lonely here, by myself," said Rupert.  "With you staying here you will have to help me out in my restaurant." "That will be fine," responded Tim. Tim and Rupert lived the rest of their lives finding joy in working in Rupert's restaurant and in fear of the Citizen Eaters. The End. ©2014 Brady L.B.

* Continued * "I really want to find them, but I really need to think about what you have said before making up my mind," replied Tim. "Thinking about it would be a great idea," Rupert said. "Until you decide let us eat and get some sleep." The cooked fish was delicious and was welcoming to Tim's stomach. After Tim was done eating the fish, Rupert showed him to a room to sleep in. The room had two kid size beds. The room was quite messy and looked like a few kids still lived in the room. The walls were covered with pictures of mystical creatures that filled the fairy tales that his parents told him.  When Tim got into one of the beds, he felt that he was falling into the hands of death.  He felt uneasy all over and did not know how to change that feeling. After Rupert had left the room, Tim began to ponder on what he was told. Could this be the room of Rupert's two youngest children? Why had Rupert not cleaned up the room after they were...

* Continued * "I really want to find them, but I really need to think about what you have said before making up my mind," replied Tim. "Thinking about it would be a great idea," Rupert said. "Until you decide let us eat and get some sleep." The cooked fish was delicious and was welcoming to Tim's stomach. After Tim was done eating the fish, Rupert showed him to a room to sleep in. The room had two kid size beds. The room was quite messy and looked like a few kids still lived in the room. The walls were covered with pictures of mystical creatures that filled the fairy tales that his parents told him. After Rupert had left the room, Tim began to ponder on what he was told. Could this be the room of Rupert's two youngest children? Why had Rupert not cleaned up the room after they were taken away? Rupert must have loved his family so much. He must have had his heart broken when they were taken away. He was so heart broken that he co...

* Continued * Rupert came back into the room with cubed fish and glasses of water.  He placed a plate of fish and a glass of water next to the seat that Tim was in.  Rupert sat down and ate some fish before starting into his story. "Well lets see.  Where was I?" said Rupert.  "At first the creatures ate food that was provided by the government.  Later, the government could no longer afford to feed the creatures so they were given permission to eat a portion of the citizens that they gathered.  Due to this permission the monsters became known as Citizens Eaters. "The other day a group of penguins and Citizen Eaters came through town.  Most of us were trying to avoid interaction with the group, in fear that we could join the group on to their final destination.  There was rumor that this group was gathered because they failed to pay their taxes.  The more likely truth would be that they could not pay their taxes." "Where is their fina...

* Continued * "Word had gotten back to Swav about what my wife was teaching our kids.  He made the decision to take my kids a few days after my wife's capture, to prevent them from picking up where my wife left off,"  Rupert said. "Why would he take your kids?  What danger did they present to Swav?" asked Tim. "Ideas, ideas!" replied Rupert.  "That is what Swav is afraid of.  It is ideas that will cause people to rise up against Swav.  That is why he imprisoned all that opposed his ideas and the fear of imprisonment trained the rest.  Rounding up so many citizens would be hard to do with the normal army that the country had, so Swav had prepared a separate army to do his bidding. "He raised monsters.  They are not like any animal that we have ever known.  Their body was similar to that of the polar bears.  Their six legs looked like large serpent bodies.  Their heads held the shape of lions with tongues of serpents.  ...

* Continued * Tim felt really uncomfortable about what Rupert had told him so far.  What consequences was Rupert talking about?  Was his family missing because of one of the election consequences?  Would he be able to find his flock? "What do you mean that there were consequences?" asked Tim. "I will get to that in a little while.  There is still much to tell you before you will understand the consequences," Rupert replied.  "Now where was I?  Oh yes!  After the election, Swav began to push a change to cover more citizens with health insurance.  He claimed that it was a right, not a privilege, to have health insurance.  At last he was able to get it into law that health insurance was a right.  Over the next couple years, the government built the program to cover those who did not have health insurance. "Once the health insurance program was on line, more citizens lost their preexisting health insurance, than gain...

* Continued * After a long bizarre silence, Rupert leaned back in his chair.  Rupert lifted his left paw in the direction of Tim.  Tim looked behind him and saw a family portrait.  The portrait contained Rupert, a mother mouse, and three kid mice. "Can you see my family portrait, there on the wall?" asked Rupert. "Yes, so where is your family?" asked Tim. "They were taken way in the middle of the night," replied Rupert.  "At the moment I am not going to go into why they were taken.  I just wanted you to know that I have had my family taken away also.  What I am going do first is to tell you why things are happening." "What do you mean that you are going to tell me why things are happening?" asked Tim. "I will tell you, all in good time.  You need to hear the whole story, so you will know what to do or how to react," said Rupert.  "The story starts several years ago.  Our country was filled with disdain for e...

* Continued * Tim arrived at the small town after it was dark.  Most of the buildings' lights were out and it was hard to see anything in the road ways.  As he was going through the town he came to a house with its lights on. Tim went up to the front door and knocked.  He waited in hopes that the owners would hearken to the knocks and let him in for the night.  He could hear someone moving inside the house.  The door opened slowly and before Tim was an old mouse. "What do you want?" asked the old mouse. "I was wondering if you could help me.  My flock has left me and I am trying to catch up.  I was wondering if you had seen them and if I could stay here tonight?" said Tim. "What is your name, little penguin?" "I am Tim.  What is your name?" "I am Rupert," replied the old mouse.  Rupert twisted as he considered the little penguin's story.  "How about you come in and tell me your story and we will determine wh...

* Continued * Just as Tim's feet hit the ice next to the break in the ice, the ice shuttered from a big mass hitting the ice.  The shuttering caused Tim to lose his balance and he fell to the ice.  A sense of relief washed over Tim. The killer whale apparently thought he could still get Tim by hitting into the ice.  To Tim's luck the ice was too thick for the killer whale to break through.  Tim scooted away from the hole in the ice several feet before he felt safe to get back on his feet. Once Tim was on his feet, he shook off the terrified feeling that he had felt being chased by the killer whale.  After the feeling of danger had died down, he remembered that he needed to get back on the trail of his flock. On the way back to the tracks a strong breeze came across his face.  At last he was back to the tracks.  Fear rushed over Tim again as he realized that the tracks were being washed away by the strong breeze.  He quickly started in th...

* Continued * Tim waddled over to the edge of the ice and looked down into the deep blue liquid.  Thoughts of eating all he could ran through his head.  He gently leaned forward and slid into the water. A slightly cooling sensation surrounded him as the water engulfed his body.  When his body adjusted to the new environment he began to search for food.  He looked off in all directions and could not see anything to fill his belly.  He swam deeper and deeper in search of food. He finally came along a school of small animals that he found appetizing.  He raced after them and ate as many as he could.  At last his belly felt full.  He started his ascent when he saw a shadow above him.  At first he could not tell what it was, but then he realized that it was one of the greatest dangers in the sea, the killer whale.  He did not know if the killer whale had taken notice of him yet, but he did not want to take any chances.  He held ...

* Continued * Tim had been traveling for a while and he was becoming hungry.  He began to look around for a place where he could go into the water and find food to eat.  As he was looking around, he noticed something new in the snow in front of him.  He decided to wait to eat until after he saw what the object was in the path before him.  As he went along the object got bigger and bigger until he could make out what the item was.  It was a foot with a pool of blood soaked into the snow around it.  Outside the foot and blood there were only the tracks left by the flock that he was following. The sight of the foot was haunting and caused him to lose his appetite.  Tim continued to go down the path that his flock had taken.  As he went he tried to remove the image of the foot from his mind.  He did this by thinking of his family and the other young penguins that he would play with.  He remembered the games that they would play and th...

Bathed in a black coat and white shirt, Tim lay asleep in the nest.  A cold breeze wafted over Tim and caused him to stir. He finally woke up from the cold.  Where were his parents to keep him warm?  He looked around and all that he could see was snow and ice.  What happened to the flock?  Tim rolled onto his feet and looked around.  The snow showed signs of the flock rushing off in one direction.  There were signs of other animals in the tracks. Tim wondered, “Why did they leave him?” He had to find out what happened.  He started down the path that the flock had taken.  He waddled back and forth as fast as he could. * To Be Continued * ©2014 Brady Burgener