Robert P. Herbst
11-20-2007, 08:29 PM
SHADOWS
Written November 20, 2007 Fiction 1024 Words
Copyright © 2007 Robert P. Herbst. All rights reserved.
By
Robert P. Herbst
The weather here in Mount Perry has been unusually dry. The Swamps are drying up and the alligators waddle up and down Jefferson Street looking for any kind of water hole to stay moist in. Unfortunately, no one had educated the huge reptiles about right of way or traffic lights. They just lumber along at their own pace through intersections against the light, snarling traffic in all directions for miles. It’s not the number of cars snarling things up, most drivers try to avoid the alligators, there are just too many alligators out there wandering about.
Today started out another beautiful cloudless day and the residents of Mount Perry were all out cleaning evidence thirsty alligators had been there from their front yards with their doggie Pooper Scoopers. Things were quite normal for the year to date. There had been no rain and the area was going on desert conditions. Things were as calm as they could be, here in Mount Perry.
This has been the driest year in Mount Perry’s recorded history. Of course, the ability to write only goes back just so many years around here, but those few years are rich with historical events, carefully written in the towns records in crayons. Most people around here are not allowed to handle sharp pointed things.
Then a cloud appeared in the sky, people stopped in their tracks to examine this rare event and the Mount Perry Air Force was put on alert, lest the cloud try to rain on us before 2:00 AM. Then, another cloud arrived and hung motionless against the slopes of our beloved mountain. Soon the sky was dotted with clouds and the sun was partially obscured.
People now wandered the streets along with the alligators, all looking at the strange happenings in the sky over their heads. There were now dozens of clouds and more and more people poured out into the streets looking up. Even I was tempted to wander to the front door of my shop and look upwards at this marvelous sight.
Suddenly a woman across the street let out a high pitched shriek and ran for the police station, just down the block from my store, screaming, “It’s GONE!! It’s gone! HELP ME PLEASE! It’s gone!”
Those of us nearby looked at each other in wonderment, trying to figure out what had upset this woman so much. Yodar Hoopelhoffer, the Mount Perry town idiot, just happened by at about this time. He has witnessed the woman’s hysterical actions. I asked him if he knew what had so terrified one of our citizens.
Yodar looked around at us as the crowd grew before saying, “Her Shadow is gone. Can’t you see. None of you have shadows any more.”
There was instant panic in the streets of Mount Perry. Our shadows were indeed gone. For months our shadows had followed us everywhere, what does one do after so many months of having a shadow follow us everywhere we went, when our shadow has suddenly vanished. I have to admit, even I had a twinge of panic as I stepped back into my shop where I didn’t have a shadow to begin with. I felt safe form the panic in my shop. Yodar stepped inside with me and together we watched the mass hysteria spread.
The people out in the streets, however, were in a complete panic accusing each other of shadow-napping. Fights broke out and the police arrived to maintain order, only to find someone had made off with their shadows. The panic spread rapidly to the outlying streets and then on out into the swamps, where the hapless alligators were beaten mercilessly to force them to return the shadows. It was reasoned the alligators, hungry from their trek to find water, had eaten the shadows to fend off starvation.
After all, who else but the lowly alligator would steal a shadow except for the evil mastermind of skull duggry, Prof. Nas T. Noogle, arch fiend and mastermind of all evil things in Mount Perry. Fortunately, the Prof. Was still behind bars in the local jail for impersonating Sandy Claws last Christmas and handing out Toll House Cookies with Exlax chips instead of chocolate chips in them.
Then the fire department was called in to prevent our friendly citizens from killing each other over the loss of their shadow. Water from the fire trucks dampened the mood of the mob, but failed to stop them. The scene was utter chaos. Stretcher bearers raced frantically about trying to gather up the wounded for transportation to out Mount Perry Hospital. Their constant babbling about not having a shadow left some doubt about just which ward to take them to.
Total anarchy was about to take over when one well meaning citizen pulled out a flash light and made ready to strike his neighbor with it. His finger just touched the on button as he was about to swing it. The light came on bathing him in light and instantly his shadow reappeared.
On seeing this, I instantly raced to the back of my shop and dragged out the thousands of Army Surplus Flash Lights everyone told me I was a fool to buy. Yodar and I set up shop in the front of the store and sold every flashlight for twenty times what I’d paid for them. Just as the last flash light and battery walked out the front door, the clouds parted and the sun shown again on the streets of Mount Perry
On seeing this change in circumstances, Yodar and I immediately closed the store and hid in the back room to count our money while we had a well earned cup of coffee. The people have gone on home, some holding their flash lights over their heads and marveling at their two shadows now, while others back out of the way as battered and angry alligators once again snarl the traffic in Mount Perry.
Things do become hectic around here, but never for very long.
Written November 20, 2007 Fiction 1024 Words
Copyright © 2007 Robert P. Herbst. All rights reserved.
By
Robert P. Herbst
The weather here in Mount Perry has been unusually dry. The Swamps are drying up and the alligators waddle up and down Jefferson Street looking for any kind of water hole to stay moist in. Unfortunately, no one had educated the huge reptiles about right of way or traffic lights. They just lumber along at their own pace through intersections against the light, snarling traffic in all directions for miles. It’s not the number of cars snarling things up, most drivers try to avoid the alligators, there are just too many alligators out there wandering about.
Today started out another beautiful cloudless day and the residents of Mount Perry were all out cleaning evidence thirsty alligators had been there from their front yards with their doggie Pooper Scoopers. Things were quite normal for the year to date. There had been no rain and the area was going on desert conditions. Things were as calm as they could be, here in Mount Perry.
This has been the driest year in Mount Perry’s recorded history. Of course, the ability to write only goes back just so many years around here, but those few years are rich with historical events, carefully written in the towns records in crayons. Most people around here are not allowed to handle sharp pointed things.
Then a cloud appeared in the sky, people stopped in their tracks to examine this rare event and the Mount Perry Air Force was put on alert, lest the cloud try to rain on us before 2:00 AM. Then, another cloud arrived and hung motionless against the slopes of our beloved mountain. Soon the sky was dotted with clouds and the sun was partially obscured.
People now wandered the streets along with the alligators, all looking at the strange happenings in the sky over their heads. There were now dozens of clouds and more and more people poured out into the streets looking up. Even I was tempted to wander to the front door of my shop and look upwards at this marvelous sight.
Suddenly a woman across the street let out a high pitched shriek and ran for the police station, just down the block from my store, screaming, “It’s GONE!! It’s gone! HELP ME PLEASE! It’s gone!”
Those of us nearby looked at each other in wonderment, trying to figure out what had upset this woman so much. Yodar Hoopelhoffer, the Mount Perry town idiot, just happened by at about this time. He has witnessed the woman’s hysterical actions. I asked him if he knew what had so terrified one of our citizens.
Yodar looked around at us as the crowd grew before saying, “Her Shadow is gone. Can’t you see. None of you have shadows any more.”
There was instant panic in the streets of Mount Perry. Our shadows were indeed gone. For months our shadows had followed us everywhere, what does one do after so many months of having a shadow follow us everywhere we went, when our shadow has suddenly vanished. I have to admit, even I had a twinge of panic as I stepped back into my shop where I didn’t have a shadow to begin with. I felt safe form the panic in my shop. Yodar stepped inside with me and together we watched the mass hysteria spread.
The people out in the streets, however, were in a complete panic accusing each other of shadow-napping. Fights broke out and the police arrived to maintain order, only to find someone had made off with their shadows. The panic spread rapidly to the outlying streets and then on out into the swamps, where the hapless alligators were beaten mercilessly to force them to return the shadows. It was reasoned the alligators, hungry from their trek to find water, had eaten the shadows to fend off starvation.
After all, who else but the lowly alligator would steal a shadow except for the evil mastermind of skull duggry, Prof. Nas T. Noogle, arch fiend and mastermind of all evil things in Mount Perry. Fortunately, the Prof. Was still behind bars in the local jail for impersonating Sandy Claws last Christmas and handing out Toll House Cookies with Exlax chips instead of chocolate chips in them.
Then the fire department was called in to prevent our friendly citizens from killing each other over the loss of their shadow. Water from the fire trucks dampened the mood of the mob, but failed to stop them. The scene was utter chaos. Stretcher bearers raced frantically about trying to gather up the wounded for transportation to out Mount Perry Hospital. Their constant babbling about not having a shadow left some doubt about just which ward to take them to.
Total anarchy was about to take over when one well meaning citizen pulled out a flash light and made ready to strike his neighbor with it. His finger just touched the on button as he was about to swing it. The light came on bathing him in light and instantly his shadow reappeared.
On seeing this, I instantly raced to the back of my shop and dragged out the thousands of Army Surplus Flash Lights everyone told me I was a fool to buy. Yodar and I set up shop in the front of the store and sold every flashlight for twenty times what I’d paid for them. Just as the last flash light and battery walked out the front door, the clouds parted and the sun shown again on the streets of Mount Perry
On seeing this change in circumstances, Yodar and I immediately closed the store and hid in the back room to count our money while we had a well earned cup of coffee. The people have gone on home, some holding their flash lights over their heads and marveling at their two shadows now, while others back out of the way as battered and angry alligators once again snarl the traffic in Mount Perry.
Things do become hectic around here, but never for very long.