~ The Mudokon Girl ~
Chapter One – How Max Came to the Pie Factory
I.
The little pie factory in the woods was so far from anywhere, except the small village there, that the inhabitants were quite out of touch with anything happening in the real world.
The manager of the factory, a Glukkon named Humbug, was what most Glukkons are not, and content with what he had. He had thirty Slig and twenty Mudokon workers, and they made enough pies for the village, in three unique flavours.
However, he thought perhaps they could use a few more Mudokons. Since they kept dying. He ordered a carton of Sam's Labour Eggs, to hatch and raise himself. They were much more obedient that way.
Out of the twelve eggs, just seven hatched, and only three survived their first year. Two of these were strong, healthy boys, who were quickly taught not to run around and yell, usually by the butts of Slig guns.
The other was a girl. Humbug and his Sligs didn't notice, but the older Mudokon workers certainly did. They didn't tell anyone, even the girl herself. They didn't even discuss it among themselves. But they knew. They knew also that the time would come when she would have to flee the factory, and travel to the Mudokon fortress that they vaguely knew existed somewhere over the desert.
She grew up. She was beaten, she cleaned things and she made pies, and she never knew she was a she. The Mudokons called her Max, and she called them Doofy (the old one), Crankers (the grumpy one) and Bonker (the crazy one), as well as a lot of other names she invented herself.
Nobody except the Mudokons ever even suspected she was a girl, even though she made the best pies.
“Tell me again, Doofy,” she said one day, “about the free places.”
“Well,” said Doofy, sitting up, “They're very wide. And there are no Sligs there. Everyone is happy.”
Max stared at him in awe.
“They grow plants, and eat things cooked over open fires, and vegetables. Not pies.”
Max looked down at the pie she was eating, and put it carefully aside, because she thought that Doofy didn't like pies.
“And they sing and they dance,” said Doofy, humming to himself. “And everyone is happy.”
“One day,” Max told him, “we'll escape from here and find the free places. And then we'll be happy too.”
Doofy looked at her. “Perhaps,” he said. “Perhaps.”
“We'll get all the pies,” Max went on, “and put them in a big heap. We'll tell the Sligs they can eat as many as they want, and they will eat them and eat them until they're full, and then they can't chase us.”
Doofy smiled at her. “Ah, but we'd have to cross the desert. It's hot, and there's lots of sand and things.”
“We'll only move in the night,” she told him. “We'll sneak across the desert and to the free places.”
“But first we'd have to go the the wild jungles. They're full of monstrous beasts that'd eat you up.”
“We'd only move in the daytime when they were asleep, and at night we'd make a big fire to scare them away.”
“Then we'd have to cross the huge fields at the top of the cliff, and by then the Sligs would be able to run again, and they would catch up with us.”
“Then we'd disguise ourselves as free Mudokons, and they would run right past.”
“And then we'd go to the free places,” said Doofy softly. “It would never work, Max. I'm sorry."
Max stuck out our lip as best a Mudokon can, but didn't say anything.
|
