Read Online Old Bones: A Collection of Short Stories by Steven L. Campbell - Free Book Online Page B

in
time.
    “Sulliac!” King Mimalaus called out from his
dirty brown throwdown. “Don’t bite that one in half. The blue ones
taste ugly.”
    Sulliac the Loyal grunted in agreement and
continued climbing.
    “You incipient vacillator,” a shadowy figure
chided from the northwest corner of the room; “The entire world
knows that the blue ones are an acquired taste of the sophisticated
and dexterous. Why, with just a pinch of yellow yeast glob a blue
becomes the finest meal man will ever consume.”
    His nasally voice echoed throughout the hall.
Then a long, low belch sounded from the king’s area. This was King
Mimalaus’s sound of disapproval and it made the winded Sulliac the
Loyal smile as he finally reached the small and flickering
candle.
    “Put that in one of your pictures,
Couchiniti,” the king grumbled. “If you can find the right
color.”
    Then a quick booming belch from the king
marked an end to the conversation. After all, Couchiniti was
renowned for his lengthy rhetorical rambling and the king was in no
mood to be subjected to such torture. This was to be a day of
respect in Nortepius and he was looking forward to the arrival of
new fleece throwdowns.
    The dining hall grew larger as Sulliac the
Loyal lit the new candle and placed it at the top of the wax-heap.
From his perch, he could see the tall and frail Couchiniti biting
his right forearm. Couchiniti did this whenever halted from giving
the hall a verbal round of his antiquated conjecture.
    Seeing the sulking crafter suckling on his
arm made Sulliac the Loyal hungry, so he stuck his fingers in his
mouth and licked at the rhizopus that had accumulated from his
ascent of the waxy wattle.
    Hearing the sucking and slurping made the
king hungry too, so he began cleaning between his toes. The three
snacking statesmen did not hear the low rumbling outside, nor were
they able to see the blinding white light that blanketed the
countryside. Hot winds blew at the walls of the dining hall as
trees and small buildings were swept away. Another rumble followed
as the ground began to shake.
    “Another quake!” the ever-observant king
shouted as the hall began shaking. “Let’s celebrate!”
    The vibrating building knocked Sulliac the
Loyal from his perch and he fell hard onto the table below.
Luckily, he fell feet first and was able to cushion the impact with
his legs.
    Couchiniti’s easels fell over and palettes of
paint and brushes were knocked to the dirty marble floor. A large
clay bust of Couchiniti fell from its podium and shattered.
Couchiniti grabbed up his paintings while the king danced at the
base of his throne. Then it was over.
    In unison, the three men sat down on their
tattered throwdowns and laughed. They laughed for many minutes as
tears welled and flowed from their eyes. The king’s sides began to
hurt, but he kept laughing. He was happy for the extra light and
warmth that had crept into the hall. Moreover, he was ever so
grateful that the ugly bust of Couchiniti was ruined.
    “Our new throwdowns should be here by
nightfall,” he cried. “I can’t wait.”
    “Hear, hear, O Great King,” Sulliac the Loyal
sang. “Hear, hear, O Great King.”
    #

A Child’s Tale of Learning
    A YOUNG BOY in Ridgewood discovered a question. It
was awkward and new and he didn’t know what to do with it, so he
gave it to his mother. She gently took it and with her son, looked
at it in the yellow rays of the summer sunlight. Then she handed
him an answer. It fit perfectly in his little hands and made him
warm and happy. He found more questions in many sizes, all too many
for him to carry at once, so he took what he could to his mother;
she replaced each one with a perfect-fitting answer.
    At the elementary school, he found many more
questions and, like at home, he carried what he could to his
teachers. Some gave him answers that fit well in his hands, but
other teachers gave him questions—BIG questions—in return for his
questions. As he grew older, the