Short Stories and Nonsense. W.R. Lacy

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СКАЧАТЬ much,” I replied.

      “Well,” he answered, “she might be changed.”

      “I don’t want that! She is the only stable thing in my life, and I don’t, I won’t allow her to be hurt in any way, form, or fashion!”

      “So be it,” he replied.

      “Now what happens?” I asked.

      “You probably won’t be aware of anything actually happening, but some things will be slightly different.”

      I think I could handle that, I thought.

      I think you can, I heard from a voice in my head. So far, so good! No horns growing out of my head, or links.

      We didn’t talk anymore but just sat on the porch enjoying the day. As the sun slowly began to sink into the horizon, I wondered where we were going to sleep.

      The man cleared his throat and said, “You will sleep in the cabin tonight. You and your dog will be safe here. Nothing will happen to you.” It seemed as if he were reading my mind. He got up and left without another word.

      The night was getting cooler, so we decided to go inside the cabin. Finally, Tink would get down. She had a heyday smelling every comer of the cabin. The inside of the cabin was not what I was expecting, much larger than it looked from the outside. The floor was covered with thick, soft carpet.

      Beautiful drapes hung from the windows. And the bed, the bed was so large it took up most of the room. Heavenly days, what a bed! The covers were plush and thick. Everything was arranged in an orderly manner. There was a bathroom that did not seem to be there from the outside of the cabin. I carefully opened the door. To my surprise, a large tub was filled to the brim with warm, inviting water! There were even bubbles! I couldn’t resist. Slowly, I undressed and stepped into the warm water. Heavenly, I could have stayed there all night, but Tink let her needs be noted. Slowly, I got out of the tub, and there was a large, warm, fluffy towel. I dried off, and by that time, bed clothes were ready for me to step into. I dressed and went outside with Tink. After she was finished, we came back into the cabin and went to bed.

      As I lay there, I thought about what had happened to me on this day. Unbelievable! I drifted off to sleep and had the wildest dreams ever. I dreamed that I was back where I had been. It seemed so simple. I was in the car driving down the highway, happy as a lark. I wondered where I would be when I woke up. After an extremely good night sleep, I awoke to the sun shining through the window. Tink was ready to go outside. I slipped into clean clothes that were not there last night. They were a perfect fit. We went outside, and Tink was ready to be put down. She smelled and ran all over the place. She felt comfortable here, and so did I. When she came back, ready for her breakfast, it was already in a bowl on the floor, and she went right at it. It must have been her regular food because she did not smell or refuse it. We walked outside, and a table was set with every breakfast food available, but first, coffee. Even the creamer I liked was there. No one else was about, so I helped myself. The food was delicious! I could really get used to this. When I finished eating, the table and chair disappeared.

      Nice. No dishes to wash.

      We wandered around the cabin and found another trail that looked nice. Tink seemed to like it but stayed close. As we walked, things started changing. At first, just minor things, but the further we walked, the changes were more noticeable. The trees seemed to change color, not green, more blue. The grass was also changing to red. When I glanced up at the sun, there were two suns! Surprise!

      Surprise! I glanced down at Tink, and she was still sniffing and walking around. She didn’t seem scared or anything, just very comfortable. The further we walked, the more changes we noticed. Now the sunlight seemed to be more purple and the terrain had slowly been changing, more rugged, rough mountains. We came to a pool, and the water was bright orange. Tink went to smell but did not drink. I felt we should turn around, but when I started to leave, the trail was gone! Again, nothing seemed the same; maybe we were beginning to get the secret of this place.

      Suddenly, a small childlike creature appeared! It came up to us and looked us over. “Human person and creature,” she said.

      “Yes,” I replied.

      “Come with me,” it said. We followed her down a path I did not see earlier. This time when we came to a clearing, there was a dilapidated building; it looked like it belonged in a ghost town.

      “Follow,” the creature said, so we did. Inside the building, it was dark, damp, and cold.

      Tink stopped and looked up at me. I reached down and picked her up. She looked at me and whispered, “I’m scared.” I almost fainted! I thought I misheard her, but no. She said, “Let’s go home. I don’t like it here. It is not like the other place.”

      I said, “Okay, we will in a little while.”

      The childlike creature stopped and looked at Tink. “You want to go home? What if this was your home?”

      “I don’t like it here,” replied Tink.

      “Well, you don’t have to worry, because you will be going home soon.”

      We proceeded further into the house, down a long hall. Soon we came to a large hall with lots of other people and machines in it. The creature spoke some foreign language, and the others came toward us. Tink started barking. “Be quiet!” I said.

      “They are going to hurt us,” she said.

      Surely not. But they did seem to have harm on their minds. “Do not be afraid” said the child. “We do not intend to harm you.”

      Apparently, Tink did not feel that was the plan. She continued barking and growling. I was trying to get her to be quiet. “No,” she shouted.

      The child creature raised her hand. Immediately, Tink quieted down. Not harmed. I asked if she was okay. “Yes,” she answered. The child motioned us to come forward. The big man was sitting on a big chair. He raised his hand, and everyone stopped what they were doing. I was surprised to see him. He smiled and motioned me forward. Tink quit barking and settled down. “I told you, some of your people are selected to learn our secret, and you are the one. Can you guess what it is?”

      “Well,” I started, “everything is certainly different here. The colors are beautiful. Everyone that we have met has been very nice, and we have been treated very well. I guess your secret has something to do with that, perhaps?”

      “You are right,” he replied, “but that is not all. We have taken humanoid features so as not to scare you. If we appeared in our normal state, you would die from fright! As you may have noticed, your animal is able to speak. This is a delight for you humans. I understand you have always wished this.”

      “Yes,” I answered, “I was shocked at first, but now I find it delightful. Now I will have someone else besides me to talk to.”

      He chuckled, but this time, it sounded different than the first time he did it. “The biggest part of our secret,” he stated, “is that we walk among you and have for many years. You don’t recognize us as anyone other than another human. We haven’t tried to change anything about you or your habits. Some of them are very pleasurable. We have never intermarried with your kind. We only observe. When your people landed on our planet, the moon, we didn’t want them to see the best features our planet has. So we made it impossible for them to come to the dark side. We haven’t been СКАЧАТЬ