The Wild Things

We all sat in rows on the gray carpeted floor. I pulled at the soft strands of cloth, hardly paying attention to the things going on around me.

All the kids my age and younger had been escorted from the lobby, into the Town Hall’s day care center. The adults had gathered in the foyer off the left corridor, and were huddled close to the television.

It was a big room, filled with paintings of ships and birds. I don’t remember ever seeing that many people in there. It was nearly full.

The only grown-up who wasn’t in the foyer was Becky, who had been sent to watch us.

She sang to us. I liked to watch her pretty dark hair and bright smile.

But that day Becky didn’t seem as happy as she usually did. Her make-up was smudged and her cheeks were red and puffy. She looked like my face in the mirror after I’d been crying.

I came to the conclusion that she was quite sad. I decided that I’d try extra hard not to cause any trouble for her, and that I wouldn’t ask about her tears. Mom always told me its not polite to ask adults personal questions.

Once we all got done singing “I’m a little Tea Pot”, Becky gave everyone a copy of my favorite book, “Where The Wild Things Are,”

The drawings were so beautiful. None of my pictures ever looked like that.

Mom used to say I was a wild thing- That made me laugh because being a Wild Thing would be the best.

Becky read the first few pages, but after a while her voice began to crack. Then her face got all scrunched up. I saw tears stream down her red cheeks.

She continued to read to us.

I started to get scared because I had never seen an adult cry like that. Then some of the younger girls started to whine and it made the whole thing worse.

The adults must have heard the noises because a few moments later Dad walked in.

I was relieved to see him. He always knew how to make me feel better, so I figured he’d be able to help Becky too. He walked over to the stool she was sitting on and wrapped his big arms around her.

I heard him whisper, “My dear Becky­­-- Try to be calm. For the children.”

She paused for a moment. It was such a peaceful silence that I thought everything was going to be okay.

But then it passed.

As if something inside of her was trying to escape, she screamed quite loudly, and pounded on Dad’s chest several times. Then she began to sob uncontrollably, burying her face in the same place she had been punching. He held her closely.

By now the younger children had begun to scream again, and I felt miserable.

After a few minutes, dad walked Becky out of the room.

I went over to the little robot in the corner. His name was Delkar. He was about half my size, with a gray metallic skin. He smiled at me, and said, “Hello.” I talked to him for a while, and he told me jokes because he knew that I was upset.

I was in no mood for jokes.

I asked him if he knew why we were there. I hadn’t thought about it before, but as far as I knew, there was no reason to be in the Town Hall on such a nice day. It wasn’t Halloween or Thanksgiving or a school field trip. No there was nothing fun happening at all. It was quite the opposite.

His eyes glowed orange for a second, but he didn’t say anything.

I asked again.

This time, he answered.

“The north American communion has ordered all residents of City-States, Towns, and Clans to enter the nearest Safe House until further notice. Red Alert. Code 555. CNN News.”

I didn’t really understand, but before I got a chance to ask him any more questions, Dad came back inside.

He smiled. “Lads and lasses, please come with me to the main foyer.”

All the kids lined up at the door quickly, with Jimmy of course, as line leader.

We walked through the enormous halls until we reached a huge pair of red double doors.

Dad opened them up swiftly, and we walked into the foyer.

The adults turned slowly to see us enter. I saw so many tears. I’ll never forget them. They pierced me like boiling rain drops.

Mom smiled at me, but she was still crying.

I walked over and hugged her.

“Mommy, it must be hard to be happy with all of those tears in your eyes.”

She gave a half-hearted laugh.

I sat down nest to her, and turned my attention to the old man talking on television.

“As many of you are aware, there has been an incident of sorts. We have ignored the warnings of old, until they decayed before us. It is…unfortunate that we sought a power beyond our understanding, and failed to realize that with immense power comes immense responsibility. It is with our own weapons, that we may see our destruction. We now walk in the valley of the shadow of death, but it is our own evil that we have to fear. But…take comfort in the fact that this error in judgment was made in exchange for beauty, literature, art, poetry, democracy and all other good in this world. Humanity can not be destroyed as long as hope lives on. We are shrouded in darkness and uncertainty, but when has darkness ever not lead into the light? I hold my faith in God. May he have mercy upon my soul.”

And then the television and all the lights went out, and it was the darkest it had ever been.

I held close to mom. Dad sat next to me and was hugging us both.

I could hear the faint sound of laughter in the darkness. People were outside. I saw them out the window. There were fires blazing and people dancing and breaking bottles.

“Mommy.”

Then I heard the generator kick in and the emergency lights came on. There was a hush around the room, but suddenly the light was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

I heard a whisper, “Someone’s tampered with the generators… fools.”

But no one stirred. We all sat in the darkness, children huddling with their parents in the cold.

I couldn’t speak. I knew something was wrong and I had a thousand questions. But there was nothing to say. Not a word.

I rested my head on mommy’s chest and listened to her heart beat.

Dad whispered in my ear, “Come laddy. We’ll say our evening prayers.”

I heard the sounds outside stop suddenly, but I said my prayers with Dad just the same.

When we reached, “and should I die before I wake,” the room took on a faint green glow that lit the foyer up, and the ceiling started to crackle and pieces of it fell to the floor.

I started to think about the wild things and the pretty drawings.

I closed my eyes and heard the rain patter on the ground. Then I felt it on my face.