Brotherhood in Trouble, by @tristancarax
Here we were, in the bar with large sticks being pointed at us. Dun Dee and Jasper just snatch three large boxes of fries from the two families seated near the kangaroo statue. Luke, being the smallest of us four, snagged a couple of bags from toddlers, which were, presumably, filled with burgers and more fries; and I had enough drinks for the four of us.
"You know who we are," I squawked.
"We do," said a jittery human. "We told you this would happen if you come back."
I stood my ground by raising my chest in the air, ruffling my feathers. I stretched out my long neck and showed my sharp, strong beak to the tourists and workers. Showing them who was boss of this outback was of the highest importance. Little did the humans know of respect for other lives than their own. The time had come for a little lesson and the emu brotherhood was going to show the humans their power.
"You are on our turf, human," I said. I scratched my leg with the other foot. "You invaded our lands with your dwellings and forced us out. You owe us."
"It's the way of the world," a chubby-faced human yelled out. "Do you know how many of us have lost our homes?"
No! Not the pity card. Not the best time. Luke was a sucker for pity. He almost always felt bad for the other side, the human side.
"My mommy had to work two jobs to pay for what that jack-ass of a bird has taken from me," said a tiny human who sat by the waterfall.
I looked at Luke. He was cracking. I could tell by the way his knee shook, by the way his beak clattered together. He was about to drop the goods and run. Think!
"Any last words, birdie?" asked a slim human.
"Gentleman and Ladies," I said as I moved my wing over several spears and pushed the tips down. "There is no need to be hostile. The rule is you feed us daily - morning and night - and we leave you alone until feeding time. Easy. Simple. If our demands for respect are not taken into consideration, bigger things will happen. Scary things. Strange things. And you don't want these bigger things to happen because, if they do, you will be paid a visit from the great emu elder - and he does not take kindly to humans who disregard the sacred pact between human and emu."
Like the night inching its way into the light, the tips of the spears rose again and drew closer to me.
"What the fuck are you talking about," said a human behind a cash register. His eyes grew big like the moon and sinister like Chucky. "Good people. Let’s cook some bird to cover the cost of what we've lost. Sound like a plan?"
The whole restaurant said yes in unison, which made me shiver. It couldn't have gotten darker for us in the brotherhood, even if Alfred Hitchcock was hired to scare the piss out of us. Birds or not, in the eyes of humans, we were thieves. And thieves had to be dealt with.
My Continuation
The air went very still. The collective human “yes” still lingered on the “s”, a collective hiss. I glanced at Luke, whose beak had turned a purplish color and begun to chatter even more loudly. “Fucking songbird – I’ll have to leave him here to save my own feathers.”
That’s when things got very strange. Stranger even than I could have imagined.
Luke’s clatter chatter turned to an ear splitting jangle, the sound of something very large being shaken by something even larger.
The bartender grabbed his rifle and shouted.
“Rattler!”
All the humans jumped up onto tables, their anger at the avians turned to an ancient fright of deadly reptiles. Dread took the place of murderousness in the room.
I relaxed. I fluffed up my feathers, stood taller on my legs, legs that snakes have forever been afraid of. “We’ll just be taking what we came for then, you teensy tiny humans. Remember the pact the next time. It’s not called the Sacred Pact for nothing. Typical Democrats, the bunch of you.”
That’s when I saw the snake.
It was slithering from Luke’s mouth, rattle first. The tapered end led to a snake of enormous girth. Luke’s jaw dislocated to let the creature out in a gush, leaving Luke gasping for air.
The beast, for this was no ordinary rattler, glided toward the humans, who began to chirp even more pathetically than hummingbirds.
“Fuck! We’re all gonna die!” “Take what you want Emus! We mean you no harm!” “OK OK WE CHEATED UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE” chirped the tiny human over by the waterfall. All eyes turned to Baedon, whose mommy had worked two jobs just to provide for the Emus, as was right according to ancient truths.
Baedon started muttering "It's not, I didn't, you see they should never have, no cheating, it was those Russians..." continuing to sputter incomprehensible nothings, as he always did. The humans hung on his words, as if he could save them from the beast that now had them surrounded.
Luke starting chanting. "The crows are coming the crows are coming the crows are coming."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" said the bartender again, this time in a tremulous whisper. Crows were feared mightily in these parts, and by every living thing, even emus.
"What the fuck ARE you talking about?" I demanded of Luke. He kept it up. I started to hurriedly pack up food. I nodded thrice to my compadres, our signal to beat it out of there, and fast.
The saloon doors opened casually. Backlit by the setting sun, a short but sturdily built man entered, his golden hair shining from the light, his face in shadow. Behind him, outside the saloon, countless crows were settling on the street, blackening it. Crows settled on the horses outside, crows settled on the rooftops, crows settled everywhere. Luke continued his prophetic chant "the crows are coming the crows are coming", and still crows came.
Everyone in the bar recognized the newcomer. He was a hero to some and reviled but others, but not one person there did not hold him in high respect.
"Butch" warbled Baedon over by his waterfall. "Cassidy?" warbled I. (I didn't even know I could warble) It seemed a miracle was afoot.
A hush settled over the bar. The snake ceased its rattling, the bartender ceased his whispering. Even I shut the fuck up.
Butch put his two six shooters on the back of the snake and started talking. The crows all turned to watch.
"Friends, for we are all friends here, we are bound to each other by the spark of creation for all of time to come, and all of time that never existed. Peace on earth has arrived. Live in love and know that the spark of the infinite resides in every being."
We all understood. We all felt the power. We all sat down to sup, together. Snake, crows, emus and Butch Cassidy.
And forever more there was pure love among all.
finish the story contest.This is my 667 word entry to @bananafish's most excellent
So I bit off more than I could chew on this story, and just a few minutes ago saw that I had less than an hour to finish it. I would have liked much more time, but here it is, just under the wire. Thank you for reading.
@carolkean, this one is for you.
OMG, thank you THANK YOU for this - you just pile one treat on top of another -
This is EPIC!
You are brilliant. I only wish everyone else had read the source material you've read, the myths, the legends, the actual HISTORY behind these images.
I'm stammering like an emu regurgitating a snake - I'm that speechless!!!! #SNAKES (I love snakes) - and the visual (emerging from Luke's beak) omg, it's marvelous- #CROWS you know how I love crows (and the dread they can inspire; the Onion's epic crow, that "harbinger of doom") #BUTCH omg CASSIDY omg the blond hero silhouetted at the door, the sun illuminating him and the crows, the multitudes of crows - and then, miraculously, the message of brotherly love, which, if Kennelly is to be believed, perfectly captures the sunny, lovable and humane spirit of the immortal Butch...
I spent a LOT of time dreaming up this story, and very little time actually writing it, so it's pretty much a freewrite. And as all freewrites do, it has stuff in it that surprises even me.
I wanted to take out GMYL and use some of her words, make Butch speak the way she had him speak, but it's packed at the bottom of a box of books (I'm packing) so I had to wing it. Silhouette is a word I was grasping for and couldn't find, so I'm super glad you saw it that way.
I published this story less than 15 minutes before payout of the contest post. Super rushed it! It came out OK though, like a parable. I wonder if most stories, cut down to only their bones, would read like parables.
thanks for the great comment!
If I had it to do over, I might add a subplot about how the church ladies cookbook is out to kill us all. It's been on my mind. Today my mom had a sheet cake (boxed white-cake), holes punched in for red jello, whipped cream (from a carton) on top. Ever see a Midwest farmwife cookbook? Good God, they're on the take from the heart attack industry, I swear.
None of this sounds good to me. ick. I'd rather eat spam.
I've always wished that animals were much more friendly and not so skittish. I do understand that humans love to hunt their trophies into extinction so I can see why there isn't a better bond between animal and man. I'd love to be able to sit with more animals more often when out and about. Maybe all we need is Butch. He'll lead the way.
I've been outside trying to communicate with other life forms, for real. It's easy. They are far more loving than humans in general.
A beautiful, and mystical ending to this 'finish the story' @owasco
I can feel a spirit of wish fulfillment in this story; the hope for a better tomorrow and a more balanced collective unconscious.
I hope that Butch the transcendental cowboy wins through IRL 😉
P.s. I was inspired by your story and @carolkean's, to pull my socks up today and try to write an entry for the FTS comp. Should be out later 👀😂
Oh good! Look forward to it!
You are correct, this story is a wish fulfillment story for sure.
idk what IRL means.
Off to find your story. I got a twitter notification that you posted one there.
IRL means 'in real life' 😆
Your ending gave me suggestions that I would not be able to decide between the Canticle of the Creatures of St. Francis, or the lysergic journey of a flower child.
I hope nothing I've just written is offensive, in any case it was a weird, good story!
That was a perfect comment. @tristancarax's main character said strange things were going to happen, so I went for strange. Thank you!
Wow! Imagination, fluency and a message. All in one story!
Thanks! I started two years ago by writing freewrites, and feel I have gotten quite good at them. Let it go, and out comes some surprising stuff.