Michael Malenky's Luck
A small story
*NOTES at the bottom!*
The only chapter
“Did you see the giant raptors?” he asks, “They’re back again. They came as the sun set and circled near my home on the other side. I’m worried. Perhaps I should not have been here, listening to the device. My mother says I’m addicted to the device.” He pauses, then goes on, “I wonder what it’s really for. It’s a bit bigger than me and seems to gain some power from the sun. Sometimes, it shuts off before sunrise,...”
Thank God for that, when it shuts off and it’s quiet…
“...but after a couple of hours in the sun, it comes back. I always worry it won’t come back. My mom says that’s a sign of addiction. I’ve told her I’m not addicted. I just like to learn. Yesterday, I learned about the oceans and how their temperature is rising. This means more storms and is probably why our giant vessel crashed.”
He sighs. “Sorry, but I should go check on my family. I’ll be back.” He scurries his way across the beach. I stay in place, as I always do.
A few hours later I see him scurrying along the beach toward me. Sigh.
“I’m back. Sorry I took so long. I searched everywhere but could not find my family. I imagine they fled at the sight of those raptors. I hope they come back soon. I want to tell them about climate change. I think it’s important for us since we’re on this island… You… you’re stuck, being a tree, you can’t move anyway.”
“Did I tell you I’m the 20th generation on the island?”
Yes, many times.
“Yup, we came ashore with the giants. We learned SPEAK from them. It’s a handy thing, SPEAK.”
And frequently annoying.
“At first, the giants tried to catch us, kill us, but when they heard us SPEAK oh so quietly to them they stopped. They friended us. They protected us from the raptors and we helped them by climbing you and gnawing at the big nuts you grow so high up in your branches. The nuts would fall and they were so happy. You could have helped a little…”
He pauses and licks his leg. Ahh, silence.
“It was a good life, I hear, but then the giants got sick. They all ceased. My family lived on and here I am talking to you. The raptors have been coming around more often, but we’re getting by okay. I wonder where the raptors went. Maybe I should go look for my family again.” He steps away. “I’ll be back.”
Ahh, silence.
He wakes me from a slumber. “My family, I still can’t find them. I’m worried.”
“BZZZT BZZZZZT BZZZT” the device vibrates.
He rushes over and jumps on it to wake it up. “Hello! Hello!” he yells into the device.
“Good afternoon, Is Mr. Fitch at home?”
“NO NO, he ceased! But I’m here and I’m all alone and I can’t find my family! Help me!”
“Sorry, What?! Who are you? Where are you? Speak up if you can, I can hardly hear you.”
“I’m Michael Malenky. I’m not sure where I am but it’s an island. It’s hot and I don’t know how much longer we can make it. Help us!”
“Hold on Michael…”
Some time passes. His eyes are all wide and he’s excited. “Gosh I wonder. This is amazing. Maybe we’ll get rescued. Maybe there will be more Giants. Maybe there will be more devices and I can learn more things. Maybe… “ and he goes on and on.
Crackle… “Michael? are you there?”
Of course Michael is here.
“Yes, Yes!” he shouts.
“I’m going to tell you how to turn on the GPS on the phone… then we may be able to figure out where you are.”
“Okay! I’m listening! Tell me what to do” and the voice says some things. Michael does some things. Some time passes. It’s all very noisy. He finally says, “There! Yes, I got it. Can you see me?”
“Holy Cow!” from the device. “Michael! How did you get there! Let me see what I can do!” Then silence. Blissful silence.
“Hello,” Michael says into the device “is anyone there?” Silence. The device dims and blacks out. No more. “Hello? Hello? Are you there?” Michael looks very sad. He sighs. “I hope they come. Do you think they will come?”
I hope they come too. It’s all so noisy.
A giant roar hits the island the next day. Michael wakes from his slumber. On the other side he sees giants poking around near his home. He hears their booming voices. “Wow, three bodies. They’ve been here a while. There’s nothing else here… just the one tree over there. That phone call is sure spooky. These folks have been dead for weeks.”
“STOP!! WAIT!! I’m HERE!” Michael rushes from under the tree but the roar has begun again. The giants climb into a room and lift into the air.
Don’t go, please take him with you.
“Please stop!” Michael yells again, “don’t go!” He falls to the ground sobbing.
They are gone. Michael goes on and on. His family. The giants. His family. The giants. Raptors. His family. Giants…
Five days later the giants return. They’ve come for the bodies. This time they scour the island. Near my base they find the device. He’s next to it, ceased, one little paw on its screen as if he were still talking to it. Next to him, a giant nut, still green, had recently fallen. It appears to have struck him on the head.
“Wow, that’s bad luck.” The giants grab the device, wander off and fly away.
Blissful silence.
© 2019 Andy Swanson
NOTES:
If you haven’t figured it out yet, my writing is a spur of the moment flood of words. I do go back and check for basic punctuation and meaning issues, but generally, there are no edits. You get what came out. That’s generally the way I write. It’s not that there isn’t any planning. There’s plenty of planning. I usually think about it pretty thoroughly before I start. But once I start…. wham. It’s out.
Sometimes I write things and forget about them. The story above is one of those things. In 2019 I was an occasional contributor to hitrecord. One of the prompts I responded to was something like “write a story about a talking animal”. This is what came out. I then forgot about it until I read it about a month ago and I was like, hey, that’s kinda cool. So here you go.
I honestly don’t remember the rules for hitrecord but I do know I haven’t received any money for the story nor do I think anyone has built on it, so I don’t think it’s a problem. Cross those fingers!
