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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Character Based
- Published: 03/13/2015
The Tear....
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States“But, I want to see it again!”
“You cannot. You saw it once. That is enough.”
“But, I want to! You said…”
At that point Fornog cut her off with a curt: “No. Enough. Go to your room.”
Little Mellfor had not choice but to do so. For when Fornog used that tone of voice, well, reasoning with him would be useless. Had she pressed him anymore, he may well have restricted her to her borsterflob. He hadn’t done that in a long time, and nobody she knew, at least her age, ever wanted to be stuck in their borsterflob for any great length of time. Maybe Adults liked being alone, with nothing to do, and no one to see, but not younglings.
She went to her room, which did have lots of things to do in it, her borsterflob sitting quietly in the corner- used only for nestering, recovery from illness, and as a punishment-if healthy and unwise. Hers was purple, her favorite color. She went to her window, and gazed out at the sky, which just happened to be her favorite color - purple. The sun was out, and well, she loved the way the red and purple flowed in little eddies around the sun.
It didn’t keep her from wishing she could see it again. I mean, sure, the Adults all say you have to see it once, and they even have to take you before your 13th molt happens. But they never said you couldn’t see it again. It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. Sitting there in its pure crystal container, and allowed to flow - every two verts. One tiny drop. It is called a “tear.” It came from a thing called a : “Human.” Everyone watches that brezelle, even the adults. When the “tear” was captured in a small vial, as it fell from the cheek of the Human.
The Human, as everyone knew, had a strange, hard to pronounce name:
Debbie. The Human was female. A species that Mellfor had never heard of before. Oh not the Humans…everyone knew about them, but that they had females and males. Here, on our planet - she thought to herself, we have only young, and Adults. Oh, a few, a very few, become Fillferigs (those are the ones that have one last molt after seventy nine molts) those are strange and beautiful creatures - and always kind to young, and Adults. You see them some times, as they float down in parks, or near water…and if you are truly troubled…well, they float near you…and the Listen! Unlike some Adults she knows…and her thoughts shifted back to Fornog.
It would have surprised her to no end to discover that he wanted to see it again too. Probably as much as it would have surprised her to find out she was female, as were all young. As he was male, as are all Adults. She wouldn’t know that until she became a Fillferigs, who are both. Even more surprising, to Mellfor, would be the reason Fornog did not want to see the tear again. For Fornog, well…he is the one who collected the tear from the Cheek of Debbie. The met in Space. At a tiny spec of an asteroid, that neither had realized the other was on. It was simply a place to pick up some metal, and some water for propulsion. Except, Debbie’s ship had crashed.
He found her, strangely beautiful, with her “hair”, and symmetry. Only later did he discover that she thought of him, as a Peacock who mated with an Angelfish. When she showed him pictures of both of those species, he went vertportool. An emotional state with no equivalent in Humans, kind of a joyful feeling, with overtones of happy, content, and surprise, a completeness of full understanding, and Eureka moment all blended into one. Which , is why, there was no Human Equivalent. It was to many emotions with no associated negative emotions, and no let down when the verportool passed. Humans, it seemed to Fornog, needed both up and down moods, to feel balanced.
In the months he cared for her, and then the years it took (using her Human time scales) to rebuild her ship…he had learned to care for her, and treat her, as, well, as a Fillferig did a youth. With only joy, listening, and love. When her ship was fixed, and she could fly again…he took a brezelle of her saying good bye. That is when that tear fell. He was able to put a beaker under it and catch it.
On his planet, he put it in a crystal vial, set up the brezelle of the moment it fell. Then everyone who sees it, can experience the entire emotion captured in that “tear.” Unknown to humans, with their short life spans, and rudimentary five senses, all of Debbie’s life, emotions, experiences and thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, disappointments, and failures, and successes, were in that tear. As they are in every human tear that falls, for any reasons. Fornog knew -now- that Humans call it crying. They think they are just crying in the moment, out of sadness, or joy, or from laughing, or from grief. They have no idea what is in a single tear.
Fornog …did. So did Mellfor, which is why she wanted so to see it again. It is why they put it in a crystal vial, and showed the Brezelle to every youth, and most adults see it more than once too. Fornog, he hated to see it, for he remembered the feeling as he held two of his fronds against the roughsoft skin of Debbie’s cheek. As the tear slid into the vial…and Debbie had to close her mask. The different gasses that each species needed to stay alive, did not allow for any sustained contact. Yet, Debbie had allowed him, to catch a single tear, touch her cheek, and she had smiled at him.Then gently moved his fronds away to close her mask, before she take another breath.
He was not sure he could do as much for a friend, as she sacrificed to breath his air for that short moment. She went back to Earth, and as time went by, she passed on, as the Humans do, in such short time. He missed her writings, and he still felt her cheek on his frond, and the smile it brought to her face. He would never forget and he never told anyone, not even his youth: Mellfor - his own progeny, whose he loved in a way that even Human Mother’s can’t compere too.
Maybe, before his seventy ninth molt, he would tell Mellfor what Debbie said about his fronds…and for a moment: Fornog experienced verportool . Had he been able to smile, he would have done that too, as he remembered her words:
“Your fronds, feel like Angel kisses covered in love.”
The end. Kevin Hughes
The Tear....(Kevin Hughes)
“But, I want to see it again!”
“You cannot. You saw it once. That is enough.”
“But, I want to! You said…”
At that point Fornog cut her off with a curt: “No. Enough. Go to your room.”
Little Mellfor had not choice but to do so. For when Fornog used that tone of voice, well, reasoning with him would be useless. Had she pressed him anymore, he may well have restricted her to her borsterflob. He hadn’t done that in a long time, and nobody she knew, at least her age, ever wanted to be stuck in their borsterflob for any great length of time. Maybe Adults liked being alone, with nothing to do, and no one to see, but not younglings.
She went to her room, which did have lots of things to do in it, her borsterflob sitting quietly in the corner- used only for nestering, recovery from illness, and as a punishment-if healthy and unwise. Hers was purple, her favorite color. She went to her window, and gazed out at the sky, which just happened to be her favorite color - purple. The sun was out, and well, she loved the way the red and purple flowed in little eddies around the sun.
It didn’t keep her from wishing she could see it again. I mean, sure, the Adults all say you have to see it once, and they even have to take you before your 13th molt happens. But they never said you couldn’t see it again. It was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. Sitting there in its pure crystal container, and allowed to flow - every two verts. One tiny drop. It is called a “tear.” It came from a thing called a : “Human.” Everyone watches that brezelle, even the adults. When the “tear” was captured in a small vial, as it fell from the cheek of the Human.
The Human, as everyone knew, had a strange, hard to pronounce name:
Debbie. The Human was female. A species that Mellfor had never heard of before. Oh not the Humans…everyone knew about them, but that they had females and males. Here, on our planet - she thought to herself, we have only young, and Adults. Oh, a few, a very few, become Fillferigs (those are the ones that have one last molt after seventy nine molts) those are strange and beautiful creatures - and always kind to young, and Adults. You see them some times, as they float down in parks, or near water…and if you are truly troubled…well, they float near you…and the Listen! Unlike some Adults she knows…and her thoughts shifted back to Fornog.
It would have surprised her to no end to discover that he wanted to see it again too. Probably as much as it would have surprised her to find out she was female, as were all young. As he was male, as are all Adults. She wouldn’t know that until she became a Fillferigs, who are both. Even more surprising, to Mellfor, would be the reason Fornog did not want to see the tear again. For Fornog, well…he is the one who collected the tear from the Cheek of Debbie. The met in Space. At a tiny spec of an asteroid, that neither had realized the other was on. It was simply a place to pick up some metal, and some water for propulsion. Except, Debbie’s ship had crashed.
He found her, strangely beautiful, with her “hair”, and symmetry. Only later did he discover that she thought of him, as a Peacock who mated with an Angelfish. When she showed him pictures of both of those species, he went vertportool. An emotional state with no equivalent in Humans, kind of a joyful feeling, with overtones of happy, content, and surprise, a completeness of full understanding, and Eureka moment all blended into one. Which , is why, there was no Human Equivalent. It was to many emotions with no associated negative emotions, and no let down when the verportool passed. Humans, it seemed to Fornog, needed both up and down moods, to feel balanced.
In the months he cared for her, and then the years it took (using her Human time scales) to rebuild her ship…he had learned to care for her, and treat her, as, well, as a Fillferig did a youth. With only joy, listening, and love. When her ship was fixed, and she could fly again…he took a brezelle of her saying good bye. That is when that tear fell. He was able to put a beaker under it and catch it.
On his planet, he put it in a crystal vial, set up the brezelle of the moment it fell. Then everyone who sees it, can experience the entire emotion captured in that “tear.” Unknown to humans, with their short life spans, and rudimentary five senses, all of Debbie’s life, emotions, experiences and thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, disappointments, and failures, and successes, were in that tear. As they are in every human tear that falls, for any reasons. Fornog knew -now- that Humans call it crying. They think they are just crying in the moment, out of sadness, or joy, or from laughing, or from grief. They have no idea what is in a single tear.
Fornog …did. So did Mellfor, which is why she wanted so to see it again. It is why they put it in a crystal vial, and showed the Brezelle to every youth, and most adults see it more than once too. Fornog, he hated to see it, for he remembered the feeling as he held two of his fronds against the roughsoft skin of Debbie’s cheek. As the tear slid into the vial…and Debbie had to close her mask. The different gasses that each species needed to stay alive, did not allow for any sustained contact. Yet, Debbie had allowed him, to catch a single tear, touch her cheek, and she had smiled at him.Then gently moved his fronds away to close her mask, before she take another breath.
He was not sure he could do as much for a friend, as she sacrificed to breath his air for that short moment. She went back to Earth, and as time went by, she passed on, as the Humans do, in such short time. He missed her writings, and he still felt her cheek on his frond, and the smile it brought to her face. He would never forget and he never told anyone, not even his youth: Mellfor - his own progeny, whose he loved in a way that even Human Mother’s can’t compere too.
Maybe, before his seventy ninth molt, he would tell Mellfor what Debbie said about his fronds…and for a moment: Fornog experienced verportool . Had he been able to smile, he would have done that too, as he remembered her words:
“Your fronds, feel like Angel kisses covered in love.”
The end. Kevin Hughes
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