Gothtown's Night of Woe: a short tale
Jorn Barger
when he heard a frantic banging at his door. He peeked out thru
the bee-hole and saw his young friend Ezekiel Butterfly, looking
very tired and very distraught.
Einstein Bee opened the door and greeted Ezekiel with a snug
bug-hug. "You're up late! Is there some trouble?"
"Oh Einstein," Ezekiel moaned, "it was my t-t-t-turn on guard
d-d-d-duty t-t-t-tonight, but I fell asleep, and a Goth chyxor
s-s-s-snuck in and stole a whole cask of our W-w-w-woe! She's
p-p-p-probably p-passing it out to her p-p-p-pals, right this
m-m-m-minute!"
It had been another long dry summer, without the usual relief of
showers of Woe, and the Goths were suffering the worst of it.
Their black hues were visibly fading, and one could even catch
them showing humiliating flashes of pink and green occasionally,
under the streetlamps.
Like all butterflies, Ezekiel was a member of the Ecstatic
community, a strict religious group who considered any contact
with Woe to be unclean, and so carefully collected and stored it
after showers. Their store-rooms were vast and usually very well
guarded.
"Do you know the chyxor's name?" Einstein Bee asked, for he had
friends among the Goths as well as the Ecstatics.
"It was that m-m-m-moth Jezebel," said Ezekiel. "The
p-p-p-prostitute!"
Einstein Bee blushed scarlet, for he had a special relationship
with Jezebel that he really didn't want Ezekiel to know about.
"I'll be right with you, Ezekiel," he said, and went quickly to
his bedroom, where he had a small bag of Woe hidden under his
mattress for emergencies.
Ezekiel led him down Twilight Drive, which divided the ghettos
of Gothtown from the Ecstatics' pricier neighborhood. An
excited crowd of Goths had surrounded Jezebel, who was trying
to break the lock on the sturdy cask. A couple of Ecstatic
elders stood watching helplessly, and Jezebel shrieked at them,
"Devils! Devils! Give us back your Woe!"
Einstein Bee spoke softly and reassuringly: "Jezebel, it's me,
Einstein. You know if you break open that cask, you'll just
end up in jail. Here, I brought you a bag of Woe-- give me
that cask and I'll let you have it all."
Jezebel eyed Einstein Bee with suspicion. "What you wanna
help them 'Statics for? What they ever do for you?"
"Stealing is wrong, Jezebel. I just want to see all insects
living together in peace and harmony."
"Lemme see that bag." Einstein Bee held it up. It was much
smaller than the cask, but Jezebel sighed and handed it over.
Einstein Bee took the cask and handed her the bag, and she
scurried off before someone took even that from her.
Carrying the cask, Einstein Bee led the Ecstatics back towards
their storage-room. A little Goth midge who hadn't been
able to see what was happening poked a tall spider beside him
and asked, "What happened? What happened?"
"The devil-shouting ho let Einstein Bee re-store the Statics'
Woe!"
.
Kevin S. Wilson
>"The devil-shouting ho let Einstein Bee re-store the Statics'
>Woe!"
I don't geddit.
--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho