Minkland (Part One)

She awoke to the sound of an incessant bleating in her ears.  She reached for the alarm clock which she somehow knew must be there, but there was none.  Instead of the audible peace she was after, she had grasped a fistful of what felt like enormous leaves.

Her eyes opened slowly  to the brilliance of the sun and, strangely, a canopy of leaves overhead.  She sat up and took a good look around to see what she could see.  "Hello.", said a voice behind her.  She turned with a start, but saw no one except an overly large squirrel peering at her quizzically, standing on the roots of one of the largest trees she had ever witnessed.  "Come, Come, Come", came a call from over her head, clearly the source of the annoyance that had awoken her.  She looked up and saw the oddest sight.  It had the head of a bird, and the beak of a bird, and blue feathers, not unlike a bird.  Yet, it had the body of a small, white, house cat and the beautiful, downy wings of a snowy owl.  The bird-cat had its head cocked, and a gaze that was unblinking on the girl.  "Come, Come, Come", it said again.

She shook her head, looked back up at the bird-cat, then shook her head again for good measure.  No matter, it was still there, staring its empty bird stare.  "Hello?", the voice said again from behind her.  She turned back around to see that the squirrel had crept closer.  But this was no squirrel at all, was it?  He was the smallest man she had ever seen.  Oh, to be sure, he had tiny buck teeth and a layer of short, coarse fur that covered him from his head down to his wee feet.  However, on the top of his fuzzy head he wore a small, very unsquirrel-like, brown fedora, and in his tiny right claw he clutched hard to the cane he leaned upon.  The cane was made of some kind of wood, and was clearly as old as he, but its shine spoke of the great care he took with it.  She goggled at him for the longest of times, mouth open like a trout, then slammed herself hard back against her bed of leaves.

"This is a dream", she declared loudly.  "You, and that bird thing, are not real, so I refuse to speak to you."  With her eyes shut firmly against the sun, she implored sleep to overtake her once more.  She heard the little man chuckle softly from somewhere off to the right. He cleared his throat, as if to collect himself, and said "Well, my dear, I do believe that was you just there, speaking to me."  She pursed her lips, and refused to say another word.

They stayed like this for a very long time, her splayed on the ground with arms folded firmly over her chest, and him patiently leaning on his cane.  They both somehow managed to ignore the bird overhead, who was yet beseeching them to come to some unknown place.  Finally, she opened one eye, saw that he was staring, and simply asked "What?".  "What, what?" he replied.  She sat up with a huff.  "What do you want?" She asked.  "Why are you still here and, worse yet, why are you staring at me?"  This time he laughed with a great rolling chitter that nearly knocked him off of his cane.  Had she not been so annoyed, she may have joined him in his great mirth.  "My sweet girl, I'm quite sure I can't help myself.  I have never, in all of my long days, seen a giant such as yourself.  You are simply a marvel."

She was rendered speechless at the absurdity of this, and put her head in her hands.  "I'm the marvel?" she thought.  "I have a bird-cat in the tree above me, and a squirrel-man talking to me with a jaunty cap on his head, and I am the marvel?"

Seeing her frustration, he sought to calm her with a question.  "Where are you from, dear?"  She gazed into his kind eyes, and with a small, girlish voice, replied "I don't know".  He tried again.  "Where are your people?", he asked.  She shook her head at him with a heavy sigh, and her eyes filled up with tears.  His brow furrowed in confusion, and he made one last attempt.  "Well, how did you get here?", he implored.  She began crying now, long, low, racking sobs that made her shake from head to toe.  "I tell you, I don't know!", she howled.  He hobbled to her side, and rubbed her arm with one elfin paw.  "Shhh, there there, my dear.  It will be just fine.  Hush yourself now."

Finally her tears dried up, and she managed to give him a little smile.  Just then, her stomach made a cry of its own, and loudly announced its desire for food.  He stepped back from her, and clapped his tiny hands with delight.  "I know just the thing!  My dear, you must come with me to my village, and break your fast with us.  My people will love you!".  Having no where else to go, and feeling weak with hunger, she reluctantly agreed.  "After all," she told herself, "what's the worst that could happen in a dream such as this?"

They wandered off together into the brush, with the bird-cat following overhead, calling "Come!  Come!  Come!."


(To be continued...)