Scared of Getting Old?
May 03 2004
Ted is a short boy. He has red hair and freckles and is the tiniest bit podgy because this is a simple story and stereotypes help to make things simple. Also, the ?red hair? thing is important.
There is a village by the sea, called ?Seahaven?. Judging by the name, it?s close to the sea and is a welcoming, friendly place. It?s a small village, mainly populated by fisherman and their wives. It?s not a modern town, mainly because this is not a modern time. There are no cars or electricity and there hangs over the town just the sweet smell of fresh air and fish.
Ted giggles gaily as he skips from cobbled street to cobbled street, seeing all there is to see and interacting with the people he comes in contact with. The town is a perfect place to be, as everyone works together and all the necessary roles are filled. Everything functions perfectly. It?s a safe town, and Ted is unsupervised in his childish gallivanting. However, as Ted?s imaginative play goes on, a shadow (metaphor) falls over the town. The air is filled with the sounds of bangs, screams and cries of panic. Over the din, Ted can hear his mother calling his name.
?Ted? she screams, obviously. ?Ted come here now! Where are you??
Black smoke is beginning to billow from the dock. Ted?s mother still cries for her son, but he doesn?t get to her.
?Yarr? bellowed Red Beard, the captain of Salty Dog. ?Tis a fine day for plundering?.
The sun rose in the sky as he plodded and ticked over the deck until he reached the base of the crows nest. From there, he yelled up an inquiry to the lookout.
?Might there be a village nearby that looks particularly inviting, lookout, yarr??
?Village ho, yarr!? replied Barnaby from above him. (Barnaby, think that ?John Coffey? fellow from ?The Green Mile? except with an eye patch and a bandana. Not the best choice for a dude in a crows nest really.)
?Pleasing? muttered Red Beard, ?Set sail for land First Mate, yarr?.
?Setting course now captain?.
The ship stopped.
?? Yarr.?
The ship set course for a sleepy village by the side of the sea.
The skull and crossbones flew proudly on the masts of the landing crafts of the pirate boats that were sliding onto the beaches. Fine, wet sand gained the imprints of many sea-gnarled leather boots and peg-legs. Women screamed.
Red Beard and his crew moved swiftly through the cobbled streets, looting and plundering as they went. Some of the crew were unsure what to do exactly, so Red Beard gathered them all back to the middle of the town and said they should basically just destroy whatever they came across, and if they found anything good during the razing process it should be carried back to the town square where, after the raid was complete, it would be organised into piles and carried back. Most of them got it after that. Soon there were crumbled buildings and overturned carts and body pieces and the town was sufficiently looted and plundered. Red Beard was satisfied that they almost had all that they needed.
In the growing silence, Red Beard broke away from the main group and went to check out a small grove of trees down a cobbled street. On the outside he was calm but inside he was in turmoil as he saw the crudely painted sign outside the grove. It read ?Seahaven Grove?.
Red Beard looked around the streets, recognising the town that he?d grown up with in his childhood. He remembered his mother calling for him, but not being able to come, not being able to tear himself away from his perfect Lego town that now lay strewn in pieces around him. He sat down hard, overcome by nostalgia.
One of his comrades looked over at him and asked him what was wrong. Ted just smiled sadly. His other friend then exclaimed with excitement as he knocked apart the town tavern and found the final piece that he was looking for. The crew gathered up the pieces they?d scavenged and left the town behind in ruins. Ted took one last glance at it, before going out the attic door. He wondered if he?d feel the same way if, after ten years, they decided to destroy the Lego joint-rolling machine they were about to make. Ted shut the door and stroked his beard.
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