A lesson taught

From the Mind of Muggington

“Here comes another one,” he said. “They heard the engine roar as the driver revved the engine. As the vehicle reached the mid-point of the quiet leafy street the engine noise climbed to a scream. “It sounds like one of the jet engines at JFK airport,” she said.

“Are you ready?” he said. “Yes, all systems go,” she said. They flipped the switch on the shiny metal cube in front of them.

Inside the speeding vehicle a distracted man in a suit named Joey continued sending a text. He didn’t even bother to look at the road. He glanced at the green traffic light far in the distance. “I gotta make the light,” Joey said to himself.

He pressed the accelerator down as far as it would go. “Faster, damnit, faster,” he said to himself.

Suddenly he realized something strange had happened. He sat in the front row of a classroom. “I can barely fit into this desk. It’s for a little kid,” he said. He turned and saw that all the desks in the room had adults squeezed into them. He reached for his cell phone but couldn’t find it. He noticed other people in the room were actually swiping and clicking the air reflexively. “Someone must have taken their cell phones too,” he thought.

He turned to the front of the room. Everyone fidgeted in their chairs. A gigantic policeman in a bright blue uniform entered the room. A female officer followed him. “They must be eight feet tall,” Joey thought to himself.

“You are the lucky ones,” the male officer said. His voice boomed through the room. “If good citizens didn’t stop you, you would be murderers by now,” the giant policeman said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Maybe I sent a text or two,” he said. “You! Joseph,” the female policeman said. “You were going 85 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone. You had your eyes glued to your phone sending a text about nothing. You never saw the family. A pregnant women with three small children was about to cross the road in front of your speeding  vehicle. You do not know how lucky you are to have a second chance,” the giant female policewoman said.

The slide show started and every person at every desk had their eyes glued to the screen. Over and over the slides repeated:

“Be patient.”

“Drive slowly under the speed limit.”

“Do not text and drive.”

The slides repeated over and over.  Joey’s eyes glazed over. “When is it going to stop? This is torture,” Joey said.

“It will stop when you learn to respect your fellow human beings Joseph,” the giant policewoman said.

Another sunny day

fantasy, From the Mind of Muggington

“Let’s get moving,” Orb said. “Sure, where do you want them?” Scept said. “Over North America, especially the East coast,” Orb said. “Again?” Scept said in a whiny voice. “They always get all the good stuff.” “Scept, you know as well as I do that they’ve been having a lot of problems this month,” Scept grumbled as he herded a flock of cirri. “Don’t forget the fronts,” Orb said. Scept nudged the cold front in the specified direction and sat back. “I still don’t think it’s fair,” Scept said. “That’s why I’m in charge and you are just pushing condensation,” Orb said.

House

From the Mind of Muggington, nature is awe inspiring, nature is awesome,

It’s cozy in my house. I sit at the bottom of a spiral. The inside is nice and smooth. I’ve done the outside in alternating brown, yellow and cream. I have to admit it looks snazzy. I get a lot of attention, especially from gardeners. When they see me there are a lot of “oohs and ahs”. Sometimes I get a “yuck” or two.

What happens next varies.  The nice ones pick me up, house and all, and set me down somewhere pleasant, like in the park. Most of the time I get tossed and I’ll admit the landings can be jarring. Fortunately I fit quite snugly in my house and I can ride out the initial impact and subsequent bounces and rolls.

I think I have a pretty good life, snug in my home. In fact I think I might go out and munch on some of that juicy Bibb lettuce nearby. 

The Party

From the Mind of Muggington

The room glittered with crystal. At each place three different wine glasses stood in a row. Large plates, medium size plates and small plates competed for space with dishes, bowls and napkins.

The guests tittered at the excess. They waited for the special guest to arrive. I made a determined effort to corral a bread basket. I pulled out a warm roll and then I turned my attention to butter. I love salty butter on bread. It’s one of my weaknesses. I spied a small dish with golden pats, just waiting to be taken. Looking both ways to make sure I was not being observed I speared at least five of the canary yellow squares of goodness.

I relaxed now that I had my butter. That’s all I needed to make it through the night.

Stomp

From the Mind of Muggington

The audience whispered to each other as they waited. The Sun beat down hard on their backs. All sat on dirt according to custom.

The drumming started. It synchronized the heartbeats of the crowd.  They leaned forward peering into the distance. Far off a tiny dust cloud appeared. It moved in their direction. Sighs of relief and soft murmurs accompanied laughs and smiles.

Soon all could see the column of men. They wore traditional dress. Soft kudu pelts swished against muscular legs. Bright red, blue and yellow beads glittered around sinewy throats. Each man held a polished wooden knobkerry.

They arrived. The drummer began to weave intricate rhythms into the steady beat and then he hit the drum a ferocious blow. The dance started.

Legs kicked impossibly high and then returned to stamp the dusty earth. The ground shook and the people watched in awe.

Night

From the Mind of Muggington

Bright white streaked across the sky. Everyone’s eyes followed the path. “It is time,” the old man said. He placed the bones in the fire pit on top of the red hot coals. Cracks formed in the bones. They looked like crazed spider webs. The old man examined the strange patterns. He stood and turned to the crowd.

“We will go south,” the old man said.

What was it like

From the Mind of Muggington, nature is awe inspiring, nature is awesome

The thick sheets of ice approached the mounds of granite. Thousands of rocks churned in the ice. The cacophony would have deafened any living thing. Screeches and shrieks filled the air as long furrows and trenches were gouged in the salt and pepper surface. It was as if a gigantic cat was dragging its claws over a huge blackboard. The inexorable pull rent the bedrock of the planet.

Intruders

From the Mind of Muggington

The pirate ship glided into the sound. It slid next to the sheer cliff and within minutes they were filling barrels from a sparkling waterfall.

Many eyes watched from above. They resented this intrusion.

In single file they padded over the bare rock. Not one foot touched a dry leaf or twig. They moved through the forest like ghosts. They reached their places and waited for orders. Hundreds of lean muscled men stood in silence.

The leader waited until the ship dropped its anchor and stopped for the night. His eyes calculated distances, heights and angles. He raised his bronze arms in the air and looked in all directions. He saw his men, hundreds of them, waiting patiently.

Using both hands he explained. All eyes locked on the rough callused palms and fingers. The leader gestured at the ship and then gave the command.

First the small stones rolled off the cliff. The leader watched intently to see where they landed. The pirates on the ship below didn’t notice the small plops as the pebbles entered the water. Now that he had the range he waved an arm and the larger stones began to hit the ship.

The lookout heard the noise and didn’t think much of it. He thought someone was playing the fool and tossing things about the deck.

The leader stared at the boat hundreds of feet below. He thought about all the men who would be killed. Each one probably had a wife and children. They were the children of others. There were many on the ship below.

The leader gave the order. A boulder the size of a brown bear hit the main deck. The wood splintered and the leader heard the shouts and cries. Rocks rolled off the edge of the cliff striking all parts of the ship with deadly accuracy.

Some dove overboard and tried to swim to safety. The leader’s eyes narrowed as he saw arrows thunk into their writhing backs. “It’s like hunting salmon. They do not belong in our land,” he said.

“Maybe this will be enough. Maybe they will not come back.  I did not want to do this,” the leader said to himself.

Birthdays

From the Mind of Muggington

We humans do odd things. It is a hallmark of our species.

Why celebrate a birthday?

Why devote so much time and energy to preserving a date and year for an individual organism?

I doubt if other organisms do this. Maybe whales and dolphins have crustacean cakes with luminescent algae icing. We shall never know until we become smart enough to communicate with them.

 

The invaders

From the Mind of Muggington, nature is awe inspiring, nature is awesome

They came from all directions. A wave of them scaled the wall. The only way to pry them off the masonry was with a savage thrust of a steel bar. On and on they climbed. We tried to cut them off at the source but again they were too much for us. They had dug in deep and short of bunker busting missiles they were there for good.

I ripped and tore them off as fast as I could. My muscles ached and yet I couldn’t stop or they would completely overrun the building. My wife tried also but in the end we both surrendered.

The implacable Hedera helix conquered new territory that day.