“The Things”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “People only see what they are prepared to see.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

People say that I’m crazy. They might be right; how would I know? All I know is what I know, and what I know is that the world is a magical place. It’s filled with wonders and excitement that very few people know about.

Yes, I’m one of those few people. That’s probably why people think that I’m crazy, because I can see Things that they can’t. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you the official names of those Things, because I can’t speak their language and I haven’t yet met anyone else who actually knows the names of those Things either. So, I just call them Things.

The first Thing I saw was wandering around in the park. It was tall and brown and looked almost exactly like a tree. Except it wasn’t a tree; it was something else. First of all, the colours were all wrong. What looked like the bark of the Thing was green and what looked like the leaves of the Thing were brown. And not only that, but the Thing had a face. It was a strange face, with the nose above the eyes and the mouth beside the eyebrows. It was… strange. That’s really the only word I can think of to describe it. But, then again, maybe the Thing thought that our faces are strange too.

That first Thing didn’t really do much. It just sat there, in deep contemplation, probably annoyed at the small children romping around near it and trying to climb it. It seemed like an old soul to me, and I just assume that old souls are annoyed by young ones. Perhaps my views on the matter are influenced by the crotchety old lady who lives at the end of my street.

The second Thing was less strange looking–at least, to my eyes anyway. It looked like a simple cardboard box. But again, it had a face. The parts on this Thing’s face were all in the order I was used to seeing, but the eyes were the most wild eyes I’d ever seen. They spun around and around and around and around… They made me dizzy even glancing at them. The Thing didn’t seem the least bit dizzy though. I envy it; it could probably ride all those crazy amusement park rides without getting sick.

Final Comments: I wish I’d spent more time describing how the Things looked. It’s really fun making up completely ridiculous things, but at the same time, it’s so hard to picture them!

Overall Rating: 😄