Chapter 4:
What would Daniel do?
The Caltea trees are in bloom now. It is so pleasant outside. I make my way towards the town’s center, where the market district is. The Roberts are back, and they were happy to leave Beth with me for the afternoon. Now I have to get her apples, and a new plush toy. In Ursula 590 we don’t have teddy bears. We don’t have bears, period.
What we do have, is toy snakes. There are so many variants of snakes on our planet. There is the Illity, which is a yellow grass snake, and has bat wings. Incredibly docile, most toys are made in its image. There is this legend about the Illity; that it was the first egg that the Great Snake of the Sky laid. Maybe I should tell the legend to Daniel?
Ah, Daniel. I tried the potion that I made, the second one. It made me feel at a loss for words. Like I could fly, and yet was grounded. I felt conflicted. For a moment, I wanted to tell Daniel of this new potion. Then, I thought better of it.
What do humans understand about bottling emotions? They let them slip through their fingers like water. What sort of advice can he give me for something that he views as science fiction, or even, fantasy?
I slither pass the temple of the Great Snake of the Sky, and see that there is a booth set up there. Curious, I go to it. There is the picture of a young child there, who looks sad. Under the picture, it reads:
Suffering from constant fears. Please — give a bottle of happiness.
I check the address, and see that the kid lives close to me. Now, I have been feeling weird lately. The most I can conjure up, is either the bittersweet feeling, or the orange potion with the red bubbles.
I doubt that the parents of the kid would want me to give their child anything to do with sadness, or a potion that will bring them to the edge of a desperate need, that the kid won’t even be able to name.
What would Daniel do in this situation?
I ask myself. I wonder why I am even thinking of him now. He is a human. Yet, he has proven to me time and again, that we are not so different. If I simply go, and talk to the child, would that help?
Certainly, that is the way that a human would deal with the problem, right? I have plenty of time until the afternoon, so, I change my course, and head towards the house of the child.
The Caltea leaves rustle over my head in their own rhythm. I suppose that, no matter in which planet you go, there will be trees, breeze to play in their branches, a bright blue sky. The earthlings think there are dead planets out there. In their solar system, all the planets are abandoned. Destroyed, long ago. By their own inhabitants. That much is true.
The current times are not the only ones, during which the humans have seen progress to the point, that they can explore space. There was a time, long ago, when the humans tried to colonize the Cosmos. They had the technology for it, and were united in a single nation: Atlantis.
Atlantis’s capital sunk after an earthquake, and the humans broke apart. Their common language was forgotten in time. Their common culture splintered. And the Cosmos breathed a collective sigh of relief. Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and many other planets were desolated in a rush, in order for the humans to not gain even more strength.
But the Cosmos that lays outside their solar system? Well, that wonderful universe thrives. We, the citizens of the Cosmos, don’t want to destroy the humans. We just sabotage them, every time, they make enough progress, to think about colonizing the Cosmos again. Not that they will be able to do it again. What with them being divided into nations, cultures, single units.
I wonder what Daniel would have to say to that. Would he feel cheated? He has such a curious mind. Always asking me about Ursula 590, as if it is the only planet with life beside Earth.
I have sent him pictures, from different places on the planet. The Anaconda Gardens, an evergreen canyon in the heart of Ursula 590. The Mandrake fields, one of the best places to farm medicinal mandrake. So red, that you’d think that a battle has been fought on them.
Lost in thought, I slither across town. The houses grow further apart from one another. There are a couple of fly traps growing from the sidewalks. I scrunch up my nose at them. They might be pretty to look at, but the Great Snake of the Sky has created them to smell of rot, and other unpleasant things I’d rather not name.
Still, they are good for the environment. After all, the flies of Ursula 590 are as big as a Naga’s head. A Naga’s head is as big as a human’s head, by the way. No Naga wants to have to take a bat, and try to hit a fly.
So, the fly traps, as stinking as they are, are something that people have in their gardens. Inside the houses, there are machines that let out barely noticeable electric shocks in the air. Harmless to the Naga, but confusing for the flies.
I reach the house, and ring the bell. A woman opens the door, hope shining in her eyes.
“I am a bottler of happiness,” I say, as I offer her my hand. She shakes it energetically, her eyes lighting up with joy. “And I would like to speak with your son.”
“Speak? I just need a bottle of happiness, to get him through the week,” she mumbles, eyes losing their shine.
“I think that, your son needs a more permanent solution. If I can’t talk him into smiling, then I will bottle happiness on the spot,” I assure her, and she nods.
“Come on in,” she slithers to the side. I enter the home. There is a small Naga boy on the couch, doodling away by the coffee table. I smile, and head to him.
Chapter 4:
What would Daniel do?
The Caltea trees are in bloom now. It is so pleasant outside. I make my way towards the town’s center, where the market district is. The Roberts are back, and they were happy to leave Beth with me for the afternoon. Now I have to get her apples, and a new plush toy. In Ursula 590 we don’t have teddy bears. We don’t have bears, period.
What we do have, is toy snakes. There are so many variants of snakes on our planet. There is the Illity, which is a yellow grass snake, and has bat wings. Incredibly docile, most toys are made in its image. There is this legend about the Illity; that it was the first egg that the Great Snake of the Sky laid. Maybe I should tell the legend to Daniel?
Ah, Daniel. I tried the potion that I made, the second one. It made me feel at a loss for words. Like I could fly, and yet was grounded. I felt conflicted. For a moment, I wanted to tell Daniel of this new potion. Then, I thought better of it.
What do humans understand about bottling emotions? They let them slip through their fingers like water. What sort of advice can he give me for something that he views as science fiction, or even, fantasy?
I slither pass the temple of the Great Snake of the Sky, and see that there is a booth set up there. Curious, I go to it. There is the picture of a young child there, who looks sad. Under the picture, it reads:
Suffering from constant fears. Please — give a bottle of happiness.
I check the address, and see that the kid lives close to me. Now, I have been feeling weird lately. The most I can conjure up, is either the bittersweet feeling, or the orange potion with the red bubbles.
I doubt that the parents of the kid would want me to give their child anything to do with sadness, or a potion that will bring them to the edge of a desperate need, that the kid won’t even be able to name.
What would Daniel do in this situation?
I ask myself. I wonder why I am even thinking of him now. He is a human. Yet, he has proven to me time and again, that we are not so different. If I simply go, and talk to the child, would that help?
Certainly, that is the way that a human would deal with the problem, right? I have plenty of time until the afternoon, so, I change my course, and head towards the house of the child.
The Caltea leaves rustle over my head in their own rhythm. I suppose that, no matter in which planet you go, there will be trees, breeze to play in their branches, a bright blue sky. The earthlings think there are dead planets out there. In their solar system, all the planets are abandoned. Destroyed, long ago. By their own inhabitants. That much is true.
The current times are not the only ones, during which the humans have seen progress to the point, that they can explore space. There was a time, long ago, when the humans tried to colonize the Cosmos. They had the technology for it, and were united in a single nation: Atlantis.
Atlantis’s capital sunk after an earthquake, and the humans broke apart. Their common language was forgotten in time. Their common culture splintered. And the Cosmos breathed a collective sigh of relief. Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and many other planets were desolated in a rush, in order for the humans to not gain even more strength.
But the Cosmos that lays outside their solar system? Well, that wonderful universe thrives. We, the citizens of the Cosmos, don’t want to destroy the humans. We just sabotage them, every time, they make enough progress, to think about colonizing the Cosmos again. Not that they will be able to do it again. What with them being divided into nations, cultures, single units.
I wonder what Daniel would have to say to that. Would he feel cheated? He has such a curious mind. Always asking me about Ursula 590, as if it is the only planet with life beside Earth.
I have sent him pictures, from different places on the planet. The Anaconda Gardens, an evergreen canyon in the heart of Ursula 590. The Mandrake fields, one of the best places to farm medicinal mandrake. So red, that you’d think that a battle has been fought on them.
Lost in thought, I slither across town. The houses grow further apart from one another. There are a couple of fly traps growing from the sidewalks. I scrunch up my nose at them. They might be pretty to look at, but the Great Snake of the Sky has created them to smell of rot, and other unpleasant things I’d rather not name.
Still, they are good for the environment. After all, the flies of Ursula 590 are as big as a Naga’s head. A Naga’s head is as big as a human’s head, by the way. No Naga wants to have to take a bat, and try to hit a fly.
So, the fly traps, as stinking as they are, are something that people have in their gardens. Inside the houses, there are machines that let out barely noticeable electric shocks in the air. Harmless to the Naga, but confusing for the flies.
I reach the house, and ring the bell. A woman opens the door, hope shining in her eyes.
“I am a bottler of happiness,” I say, as I offer her my hand. She shakes it energetically, her eyes lighting up with joy. “And I would like to speak with your son.”
“Speak? I just need a bottle of happiness, to get him through the week,” she mumbles, eyes losing their shine.
“I think that, your son needs a more permanent solution. If I can’t talk him into smiling, then I will bottle happiness on the spot,” I assure her, and she nods.
“Come on in,” she slithers to the side. I enter the home. There is a small Naga boy on the couch, doodling away by the coffee table. I smile, and head to him.
