Spacing
25 January 2007
The news was spreading through the colony as fast as we can reproduce. It was hardly big news - during the one month that I've been alive it's happened at least seventeen times, maybe twenty-eight. Whichever one is bigger, I'm not actually sure. Deeper in the underground saw one of the colonies have some kind of civil war, a number are dead and the scavengers have caught wind. We don't have much food down here, we have to pretty much rely on the scraps we gather from the upper ground. My mother once told me stories of the days of our great grandparents running through lush grassy fields, a world without hunger and violence where every one of our kind would live in perfect harmony with the natural environment - for the average three months that we were alive.
I should really introduce myself, I am Mustard. A mouse. Though I'm not really aware that I am a mouse, it is just a term that humans have designated for our species - I'm not personally aware of the term 'mouse', I never use it in everyday conversation with my fellow mice. I'm just using it now for storytelling purposes. In fact, it should also be noted that I don't think in straight forward, marginally coherent sentences like you are reading right now. We don't think in the same terms at all. It's just more convenient this way.
Anyway, us mice are social creatures. We amass in large groups, have huge parties and sleep around. Unfortunately, some of the other male mice have some issues and are constantly feeling the need to prove that they have the bigger tail. So they attempt to kill each other, the victor is the bigger mouse. Some of the time, these exhibitions turn out real ugly. Which really, turns out good for us. This might just upset your soft human sensibilities, but the fellow mouse is the best meal we ever get here. As soon as a mouse goes down, especially the healthy male ones that just made a bad decision to take on a mouse that was just plain bigger and stronger than them... we are in full scavenging mode.
"Come on Mustard, I've been craving an eye for days now"
That's Lettuce, the love of my life. She is the most gorgeous mouse in the entire colony, she has the most amazing nose, many mice have killed for noses only half as good as Lettuce's nose. And she's all mine, except when it comes to sex. Then it's just a big orgy-fest but that is the mouse way. Our relationship is a controversial one - which has seen both of us kicked out of our first colony until we found one that is a little more liberal, the male is meant to be the older one in the relationship, but Lettuce is 36 hours older. That may not seem like much to your warped human ideas of time, but when you only live for three months, 36 hours is like a year and a half. Hell, I bet that doesn't seem like much to you humans. But us mice live in a very traditional culture that demands strict adherence to the rules. Now, where were we? Oh yeah, Lettuce and I were about to go eat a dead mouse.
Off the two of us went, through the wet underground of a human town. Moldy pipes and infested gutters are our world. When the sun slips off the horizon we sometimes venture out to the top ground, but that is a world of danger and low return. Sometimes the brave are able to score some gourmet scrapes but they often never return, the ones that do return talk of the many that have lost their lives up there. I've never been, Lettuce went once but she is older - has more life experience. She didn't stay for long, as most of her team found some food but it was a human trap. It was horrific. Fuck man, you humans are such bastards. You're all Hitlers, the whole fucking lot of you. Not that I know who Hitler is. I am just a mouse.
Lettuce and I found the prize, we were early - a lot of the good bits were still left. We tried to enter but we were stopped by a wall of henchmice.
"What's the big deal? It's a free for all!"
The henchmouse closest to us replied
"Not any more. The Bones have secured the area. This feast is all ours"
Wow, we all thought the Bones had died off. They left one day to go up ground and never returned. They sure are one tough breed of mice. Lettuce just looked at me.
"Forget it Mustard, It's just not worth taking on the Bones."
So we walked off. Hungry, cold and disappointed. That was a prime opportunity. Gone. Just like that.
"Lettuce, life should be better right?"
"It could be."
"We should get out of the underground... there's nothing for us here."
"Mustard, are you crazy? We can't survive up there. I've been there, the upper world is too dangerous."
"We can't keep living down here though. We just go from one moment to the next just waiting on the next opportunity to eat a fellow mouse."
"It's better than up there."
"You said you'd follow me to the end of the world - that you loved me that much."
"What! I was high when I said that! You can't use that against me."
"I'm leaving. I believe that a better world is up there. Come with me if you if want. If not, goodbye then."
I turned and left. Lettuce stood at the pipes intersection for a few seconds and then ran to catch up.
Posted byBren at 6:13 pm
Labels: Cable
