Removing The Pests
Posted on Saturday, October 29 @ 07:11:13 PDT by Randall East |
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Flakinde submitted: "There was once a man named Pepe, whose favorite thing to do was to sleep, while what he hated the most was not being able to sleep as much as he wanted to. You see, the birds would wake him up at hours that were too early for his liking. They would set on his window, on tree branches, even on his own rooftop, singing "those hellish and out-of-tune noises" (his own words).
Sick and tired of not being able to spend more time in Morpheus' playgrounds, Pepe decided to build a huge box in his own front yard. After months of work building, he spent even more time trying to catch every bird he could find, and placed them inside his box. He caught eagles, sparrows, canaries, hummingbirds, herons, hawks, and even ostriches (even though these don't usually fly, but who knows if one day they evolve and get bigger wings, Pepe thought). Just in case, he also caught bats, and flying squirrels, fish, and frogs, and placed them inside his great gray box.
After much sweating, Pepe finished his impressive work by freeing the world of all these pests. Relaxed, he walked toward the door of the box to shut it, chains, locks and all. He opened the door just a bit to make sure that the bolts were working properly, for once the box was closed, it was never to be opened again.
As he opened the door, a small child rolled by on his bike, who stopped amazed at the monstrous box. Pepe tried to ignore him and just close the door, when the child said, "Sir, what do you have inside that great box?"
Pepe replied, "I have caught everything that moves in the air, and have placed it in here . . . now I will sleep like I have never slept in a long time."
"Everything?", asked the child. "Sir, if that is what you wanted to do, I'm afraid you have failed."
"What are you talking about?"
"Sir, if you come over here, right where I'm standing with my bicycle, you will know what I'm talking about."
"Listen, kid," Pepe said, tenderly but firmly, "you'd better go away . . . I have been very careful in catching all of them, so I don't know what you're talking about. I still have some work to do, and it's getting late . . . I'm getting sleepy, and I have been waiting for this moment for years.
"All right," the child responded, "have a good night." And with that, he took his bicycle and left.
Pepe again shut the door on the box, squinting - for the last time, he thought - at the noises the poor trapped creatures made. However, the doubt that the child had planted in his mind begun to flourish in his mind. "What if I really missed one?" he thought, and just the idea of having to go back to trapping creatures later on, plus having to open the box again, made him reconsider the boy's advice.
He walked toward the spot where the child had been standing a while ago (he knew exactly where it was, as there were bicycle tracks on the ground). When he got there, he looked toward the sky, and it was completely clear, no creatures at all. Just when Pepe began to feel the acid of his anger burning inside, a soft breeze blew on his face, blowing with it hundreds of dry leaves. At that moment, Pepe understood that the child wasn't speaking about a creature, but that which made the creatures fly, the air itself. Even the tear that slid down his cheek was blown away, as if it were just one more dry leaf.
When he turned around, Pepe realized that he had left the door of the box open, and that the animals were scurrying to escape. Pepe just turned toward his house, and with indifference he crawled back in bed.
by Alexander Rodríguez"
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