Stages and Curtain Calls

I look down from the stage and remember it all began because we survived. I can see it all and remember every word.

“Who do we have here?” Come, children. Gather up your pets and follow me. We need to get to know one another. I see we have a couple of you who were crying. Here is some tissue. We will get everything sorted out and there will be no more tears.

“I am Jane. I want each of you to introduce yourselves and then sit down until everyone has been introduced.

I am Rufus and this is my sister Red. My best friend is my Redheaded Woodpecker named Knock, Knock. My sister’s best friend is a tiny elephant shrew, who is also red-headed like us.

“Red, do you want to say anything?”

“No, Rufus, talks.”

“Look up at me Red, I can hear you better when you look up at me. I know Rufus talks but I would love to hear you say something.”

“Oh, My.” What was that?

The elephant shrew stuck out his tongue and gave us all a wet raspberry sound. Red repeated his answer.

We all had a laugh. “That was a very good and funny sound. Maybe you will feel more like talking later.

“Hi, I am Lucas.”

“Hi, I am Luna. Lucas is my brother. My best friend is a feathered hen. Lucas likes his beaded goat.”

“I, have a blue duiker. My name…Kipke. My sister is Chebet. She has a bat-eared fox. We sing.”

“That is wonderful Kipke. I am sure you will get to sing for us if you want to, at another time. It would also help if you would speak up just a little. Sometimes I don’t hear too good.” Good, he is grinning back at my wink.

“This is Chiquita. She is a good swimmer and a good dog. She loves me. I am Aimee. My brother is Alejandro. His buddy is Lopez, an iguana.”

“Now that we have everyone’s names we can talk and get to know one another. Does anyone know why you are here together?”

“The boat we were working on went down in the last storm. Someone put us on another longboat with our animals and covered us with a huge cloth. This is where we washed up.”

“That is right, Rufus. We will have to set up camp and build a fire to let any rescuer know where we are. Then we will each have to find a way to confine our pets so they can be fed and watered. Does anyone know what happened to your parents?”

“I saw the stage get hit with the big stack from the ship. All our parents were on stage at the time. I do not think we have parents anymore.”

“That is what I saw as well, Red. I am truly sorry about that. It is a sad day. But we are here together. We need shelter, food, and some time to figure out what to do. Can we do that?”

“Jane,”

“Yes, Lucas.”

“Do, you have a best buddy? We all do. Are you alone?”

“No, I am not alone. I have a miniature donkey named Daisy, a squirrel named Rosey, a Parrot named Sebastian, and A tree frog named Freddie.

I pulled Aimee into my lap and gave her another tissue. “They are safely on the other side of the shed over there. I wanted to make sure none of your pets would eat one of mine, so I left them other there until we got the introductions out of the way.

“Are there any other grown-ups that got off the boat?”

“We don’t know that yet, Kipke. That is why we need to visit each side of this little island and figure out if anyone else has washed ashore.”

“Why are you here?”

“Well, my pets had an act in the show too. I am an animal trainer and helped book this show on cruise lines around the world. This is the first time I left with more questions than answers.”

“We will have to figure it out as we go.”

“That is right, Chebet.”

“I do not want anyone to go off alone. Everyone must keep their pets with them and at least one other person. I have gathered noise makes for all of us. We will all hear the noise each one makes then when we hear that noise, we will follow it to wherever you are.”

“Good idea, you clever for an old person, Jane.”

I grinned at the brood before me. Hoping they did not hear my knees knocking and my hips creaking. I just did not have time for arthritis today. “I have my moment.”

“Let’s hear some noises.”

“Kipke, that was beautiful. Wow, you and Chebet can surely sing. I can hear those notes just a clear as a bell. I don’t think you need a noisemaker.”

“Jane, I think if I had a block of wood, Knock, Knock could make a pecking noise real loud too.”

“Wow, he sure can. Rat-a-tatt, Rat-a-tatt. Can everyone hear that?”

“Feathered hens don’t make much noise. But I can use this old bell and a rock. The clapper inside is gone but I think with a shoestring, I can make one.”

I sat there and watched these wonderful children work together to find solutions and to help each other. Before the day was half gone the kids were holding hands and making their way around to where the boat was washed ashore. The Iguana was riding the bearded goat and the Blue Duiker was following the bat-eared fox. The elephant shrew was in Red’s shirt pocket. Rufus held his block of wood upon his shoulder so Knock, Knock could peck away at it. 

Here I am one lone grandmother. I laugh when I say that. I never gave birth to a child. My last husband had all the kids. I did not get to be a grandmother until I married him. That was such fun. I did enjoy my school teaching years though. It looks like it was good training for whatever it is I am in the middle of now. One day at a time. One thing is for sure. Hope is alive and well… so far.

The bell, I hear the bell… Knock, Knock is making his noise. Here we go…. Such much noise.

Daisy, saw me coming and slowly made her way to me. She let me lean on her as we worked our way towards the noise that had now escalated into dog barks, Sebastian’s whistle, and some sort of squeal.

“What is this.” I stood there as two men pulled themselves to shore. One with a rifle and another with a hatchet. Their clothes were half torn from them. I recognized them from the gally of the ship. I glanced behind them and saw two women pulling a tarp with things piled upon it. “Who are you? What do you think you are going to do with that gun?

“We are going to eat something lady. One of these kids will do or one of the critters. We do not care. We have been trailing water for miles.”

“Shouted as loud as I could. DAISY, NOW, DAISY HARD.”

Daisy trotted around the outside of the now circle made by the other adults. She turned her back and kick the man with the gun as hard as she could. When it fell to the ground, the dog grabbed it. I took it from the dog. I then smashed it as hard as I could on the ground.

The man was still unconscious on the ground. I looked at the other man and decided he was too weak to be a threat. The two ladies were maids, but they had gathered pots, pans, and things from the galley before getting into the boat they used to escape. “We were just hungry mom. We weren’t goin’ ta eat no kid. Really.”

“Well, you best tie this guy up until we can educate him on surviving without eating anyone we know.”

I was glad to see other adults but am not sure my task is any lighter. We now have two women, two men, and me. Eight children and twelve pets. I chucked. Sounds like the beginning of a new village. Who knows?

“We continue to work on shelter and food. Let’s all meet over by the only shed on the island. We can look around to see how we can expand it. Then we need to gather firewood and build a large pit to use for signal fires and cooking. We need someone to look for other vegetations.”

We found logs. Daisy and the goat helped drag them to a makeshift campsite. We found some coconuts, bananas, and other assorted melons and fruits. The kids had fun creating fishing poles and searching for the crawdads to use as bait.

I hear Sebastian’s whistle and knock, knock at it again. You would not believe what just floated ashore. A stage. Complete with curtains, ropes, flooring, and all. It had been blown away from the ship and landed in a lifeboat all by itself. There were no people on board, just the stage.

Our two men finally came around. The knot on the back of his head pretty much told him how he came to be unconscious. He did not apologize for his remarks or his attitude. I could see there were some more battles ahead with this one.

I looked around. The sun was setting and streaked the water with reds and purples. We were all safe and sound sitting on the logs that surrounded a huge fire. We were all full of fish, bananas, fruit. We were all dry. As I gave a little prayer to the powers that be I took a deep breath. The animals were all with their respective keepers. Then each and every brother and sister did a number on the stage as if it were supposed to be that way. We did eight curtain calls. They sang, they danced, performed with their pets. Separately and together. I could see new acts beginning and friendships forging.

Our life cycle takes us through at least six stages of life. From the fetus, baby, child, adolescent adult, and elderly. I looked at one of the maids and knew we had the fetus stage with us too. All six stages in life were accounted for right here.

We are all going into a stage or coming out of a stage. We are all preparing for our next stage. We are here to prepare each one for its next stage.

Just think… eight curtain calls. Right here in one little village. The adventure will continue until our little group is ready to perform for the world. We are going to have some acts that will knock your socks off….

I think there is enough love and hope to keep it all working together. We have a good smattering of nationalities as well. We have redheads from Ireland, blonds from Sweden, Brown-haired from Cuba, and Hazel eyes from Kenya. No one has said a single word about their differences. They seem to be excited about how much they can teach one another.

“I have to laugh out loud right now.” The elephant shrew is at the front of the stage… Tongue sticking out… doing his best balloon fart he can.” Red has made him a mega-phone with a cone she made. It makes it louder. Oh, what fun. Now everyone is doing raspberries.

Even the cannibal among us is now laughing and doing one too. “I hope that is a sign that things will be fine.”

I noticed some odd trails in the sand when we were gathering those logs. Someone else is either on the island and either still here or long gone. I will let my curiosity work on that one overnight. We still have oodles to explore. Even more to discover. There the kids go. Singing again. It sure is pretty. What good sports they all are. Orphans all of us. All at different stages in our lives. All in this together. I am so sleepy.

Hope Village of The Performing Arts. Already had eight curtain calls. I know now we will all be rescued eventually. When the acts are ready to take another stage and even more curtain calls. This short story will be expanding to document the adventure. Come follow us as we grow.