“It’s not what you think,” the human boy affirmed. “It’s been a year that we have been suffering, well, most of us.” As the boy talked, his eyes were welling up with tears. “Well, it started when our leader wanted something different. He wanted violence. It’s like he wanted everything to be clean, which is impossible, right?” Raymond, the foot soldier, and Zeeb nodded. They really pressed their faces forward to the fence extremely near to the human boy. Zeeb offered his kale and oats and Raymond his beans. The boy snatched some beans and kale as if he didn’t eat anything. Both Raymond and Zeeb were shocked that they looked at each other, and both their eyes were speaking something only the two of them understood. They watched the boy devour the beans and kale. Zeeb thought that humans don’t eat grass.
The boy continued his story. “First, our leader punished all those who did evil.” Zeeb asked, “What evil?” The boy hesitated. He paused for a minute, looked up at the sky, and then, “You know, evil, like stealing things, killing people.” Zeeb nodded his head, and the boy tried touching his hair. “Is it always really this long?” He’s still chewing the kale. Zeeb tried to move away from the boy. “What’s the punishment?” Raymond asked. “Okay, so the punishment was like sometimes they are killed in groups, sometimes just one. It really depends on the mood of the leader.” Raymond’s face quite changed from curious to concerned. “Like, how are they killed?” Raymond followed up. “Ah, sometimes with a gun, sometimes with a sword, sometimes they just sit or stand, and then they just die.” Zeeb and Raymond looked at each other again. Then both sensed someone, or something was coming. They heard the sound of a stampede. Both Zeeb and Raymond moved farther away from the boy. The sound moved nearer and nearer. The boy wondered and looked behind him. A pack of human soldiers was marching toward the boy, Zeeb and Raymond dashed to the barn and hid there. They peeked. The pack halted in front of the boy. Then, one soldier caught the boy in the arm, and he was hanging like a stuffed toy screaming, “Help!“
To be continued…
MATTers 