I was making my usual late night rounds around the house, not necessarily to protect the house, but instead to try and find a nice midnight snack. I know Linda and Bob are trying to help me lose a few pounds, but I'm pretty happy with how I am. Plus, I love food too much. Anyway, as I was saying...I was making my late night rounds. After I got my food (yum) I was walking back to sleep with Linda and Bob. God, this freaking necklace they make me wear. It makes me so mad. Plus, it has a stupid little bell on it. Like, I get it, I'm the one thing y'all live for, but I'm not going anywhere. Whatever. Okay, sorry, I will actually stay on track...I'm in Linda and Bob's room.
I hopped up onto the bed and was trying to get comfortable. I was thinking about how ready I was to pass out. I could feel all the food in my stomach sinking. Sleeping on a full belly is always the best. So, right as I was closing my eyes, about to drift into my twelve hour nap (don't judge, I've got to rest to be this beautiful), I hear something. It sounded like a little squeal, almost like someone screaming but they couldn't get it out. I tried ignoring it, but this sound would not stop. Since I couldn't fall asleep, I had to figure out what this sound was. Do you know what's weird? Once Bob hits the hay, his mouth is wide open. He just lets it go. I've seen multiple bugs fly and crawl in there. But Linda, her mouth is shut tight. I think she knows bugs will go in there, so she knows she's got to protect herself. She's a pretty smart lady.
Tonight though, something was different. As I was exploring and trying to find the annoying creature making that horrendous noise that is disrupting me from my precious beauty sleep, Linda's mouth was barely open. Unless you watch her sleep, like I do, you probably wouldn't think anything of it. It'd probably even look like it was closed. Nope! It was open in comparison to what it normally is. So, I got closer to her. God, I hope this bell doesn't wake them up.
Ring-a-ding-ding. So annoying.
As I closed in on Linda, the noise got louder and louder. I decided to go up to her barely open mouth and see if I was just imaging things or if there actually was some random noise coming from Linda. Yikes. She had some garlic and onion tonight and definitely didn't brush well enough. That's when the little squeals became clear.
"Hey! Hey! Help us", they said.
'What the heck?' I thought to myself. This is not Linda. But the sounds are coming from Linda?
"Help us! We are stuck."
I asked them what they wanted. I tried to sound irritated because they are cutting in on some much needed rest time.
"We've been stuck in here for years! This lady has just kept us inside of herself. We don't have much time, so we need to tell you everything."
I told them that they were crazy.
"No, don't you understand? This is important. We are an important song and story that need to be told and this lady has just kept us inside of her! She hasn't uttered a word about us for all these years and this is the only chance we may have for a long time!"
Okay, fine, let's hear it.
"Well, many years ago, there was a woman and a man. They lived alone in the woods. Every night they sang a song together. One day, this lady, the one who has kept us captive, came into the woods with a man. They were looking for shelter and"
Hello? Where did they go?
I felt Linda petting me. I guess she realized that she had her mouth open and woke up. That was a lame story anyway, thank goodness it's over. Then, I went right in-between Linda and Bob, plopped myself down, and slept the rest of the night.
Author's Note:
I based this story off the first story in A Flowering Tree. This story is all about a woman who has kept a story and a song to herself for many years. One night, they escape from her mouth and become a coat and shoes. This causes friction between her and her husband. Eventually, he realized that nothing happened and that the coat and shoes are the story and song. He asked his wife about the story and song, but she had no recollection of the story and song since it escaped her. This story is all about the importance of telling stories.
Bibliography:
A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India by A.K. Ramanujan, Online Source
