Horatio's Next Step

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Stephen Whiteside
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Horatio's Next Step

Post by Stephen Whiteside » Wed Oct 12, 2011 5:48 am

Horatio’s Next Step

© Stephen Whiteside 12.10.2011

Horatio began to trot down the road, starting to get the feel of his new found freedom. It felt good to be naked, and without having to carry his sword and shield he could put his front feet on the ground and run along on all four feet. It was much faster, and a lot easier than trying to balance constantly on his back legs. It was so good, he almost felt guilty!

It was a bright, sunny day, and the birds were chirping in the sky. Normally, for you and me, that would be a lovely thing, but it made Horatio very wary. Usually, he preferred to travel by night, but the nursing home had got him into this unnatural routine. Chirping birds don’t pose a threat to human beings, but they can be the difference between life and death for rats. Sparrows and starlings don’t matter so much, but an eagle or a hawk can swoop down and gather up a little rat in its talons in a flash.

What’s more, they don’t kill you. At least, not straight away. He’d heard stories. They wrap their mighty talons around you. They dig deep into your flesh, and almost suffocate you - but not quite. Then they take you up, up, up, so that even if you did manage to wriggle free you would plummet to your death. The air gets cold, and you start to shiver. With luck you pass out, but you probably don’t. Eventually you are taken back to the eyrie where a whole bunch of hungry, sharp beaks eventually do peck you to death!

So, even though it was a warm, sunny day, he was wary. Very wary. Constantly on the look-out for shadows, a slight chill that might pass over him that would spell the end. He tried to move from tree to tree in short, sharp dashes. Already, he was starting to glimpse that painful lesson of life, that freedom is a two edged sword!

He was suddenly aware of just how vulnerable he was. If he went missing now, nobody would know. He had not left details of his departure with anybody in town. He had just gone. So nobody would know where he was. Even if his lifeless body was found lying on the ground, it would be almost impossible to identify him, because he was naked. The bald patch on his right shoulder was the only clue to his former identity, and even that would mean little the further he strayed, and the less likely to encounter rats who knew him.

Dental records? Rats are rodents, aren’t they, which means their teeth continue to grow all the time. They have to grind them down constantly, or they become too big for their mouth. So their teeth are changing all the time. That was not the main problem, though. Truth is, forensic dentistry just wasn’t a very sophisticated discipline in that particular population of rats on that particular planet at that particular time. This may surprise you, and it may not. It doesn’t matter. These are the facts.

So, Horatio was feeling rather vulnerable. Well, welcome to the real world, Horatio. That’s how most of us feel most of the time. No, that’s a bit harsh, isn’t it. I shouldn’t say that to poor Horatio. Don’t worry too much, though. I don’ think he can hear me.

Soon Horatio began to catch the scent of something absolutely delicious wafting along on the air. No doubt about it. Peanuts! Rats just love peanuts. Everybody knows that. On this planet, or any other, rats go all googly-eyed in the face of peanuts.

The scent got stronger and stronger. At last Horatio worked out where it was coming from. Ahead of him a short distance lay a large wire structure. He was so happy. All he had to do was race into it, and he would be able to eat the yummy peanuts!

But Horatio was wary, as I have said already. He wondered. Could it really be that simple? He decided to walk around the structure a couple of times. It was peanut butter, rather than true peanuts. No wonder the scent was so strong! He put his front paws up on the front of the cage, and focussed all his attention on the small brown dollop in the middle. A wave of slight disappointment ran through his body. He was pretty sure it was smooth, not crunchy. He much preferred crunchy. Taste wasn’t everything. Texture counted too, you know.

This slight setback was all he needed. It gave him a moment’s breathing space, time to check himself, and view his actions a little dispassionately. Was he really going to charge straight in there and eat this peanut butter? Was that really wise? What did he know about this structure, after all? Maybe it was a trap of some sort! (Clever Horatio! That is exactly what it was!)

Somehow it all felt too easy. And weird. It was just not right. No, he decided, if he needed peanut butter, he would make his own, All he needed was a few peanut cows. He would milk them for peanut milk, and churn it into peanut butter. Alas, all he could see at the moment were vegemite sheep, but he would find some peanut cows soon enough, he was sure. (Actually, they weren’t vegemite sheep at all. They were just ordinary black sheep, but Horatio’s fevered imagination was working overtime. Peanuts tended to have that effect on him. It was quite a while until he recovered.)

So Horatio continued on his rather uncertain way, putting the peanut trap-thing behind him, and maintaining a constant alert for raptors, and other birds of prey. Even a kookaburra could spell the end. Suddenly, the world seemed a very dangerous place. He longed for the security of the nursing home, and his own little village. And he had only been free for a few hours. He hadn’t even spent a night out alone.

Night! My God! That was a thought. Where was he going to sleep? Where would be safe enough? One thing he knew for sure, though. He needed to switch his routine around and start to travel by day and sleep by night. It was so much safer. But where was he going, and why? What was the purpose of his life?
Stephen Whiteside, Australian Poet and Writer
http://www.stephenwhiteside.com.au

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Maureen K Clifford
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Re: Horatio's Next Step

Post by Maureen K Clifford » Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:56 am

Tell us more - tell us more :lol: :lol:

I fear little Horatio is being lured by the evils of the world - will he sell his body for peanuts? :o Will he sink or swim in the morass of traps set for unwary rodents :( ....we will have to wait for the next gripping instalment of our hero Horatio.

I'm getting to quite like your Horatio Stephen :)
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