Lundeeria : Chapter Four

Chapter 4: The Terrible Truth

Suddenly, both children became very quiet. Gone was their laughter, gone their thinking that being on Lundeeria was cool. The color had drained from their faces. They looked, what, embarrassed? Scared?

Emma moved closer to Justin, reached out for his hand, and held on to it. She stared at the ground while Justin tried to speak. But now he was having trouble doing so.

Finally, he spoke very softly. “I think we might know what fear you felt. Our parents have told us about it. Since you’re all animals, and you feel the problem comes from humans, I . . .” His voice trailed off. He couldn’t speak any more.

All around Emma and he were animals like they had on Earth. There was Tortoise, Gazelle, and Nightingale. There were also elephants and monkeys and sparrows and frogs and dolphins. And so many more animals, just like at home.

Well, no, not just like at home.

Here the animals talked. And looking around, Justin and Emma could see that all the animals got along peacefully. There were animals as far as they could see, and yet every single one of them was acting like they were all friends. The crater was filled with animals of every size and shape and kind, but no one was fussing at others.

No one was hurting anyone else.

Emma looked up at Gazelle. She spoke so softly that Gazelle could barely hear her. “Gazelle, what do the animals on Lundeeria eat?”

Gazelle looked a bit puzzled but replied, “Well, the land animals eat things like grass, nuts, and fruit. The birds eat seeds and grain. The sea animals eat plants that grow in the water, like algae. Why do you ask? Oh! Are you hungry? I’m so sorry, we shouldn’t have kept you talking so much without offering you something to eat. That’s terrible of us. Please pardon our bad manners. We’d be very happy to get something for you if you tell us what humans eat.”

Justin felt like his heart was pounding so hard that the animals must be able to hear it. He couldn’t bear to look at Gazelle. He shook his head and mumbled, “We’re not hungry, thank you.”

The animals were puzzled, why were the children so upset?

Her eyes glistening with tears, Emma said in a whisper, “We’re so very, very sorry. I don’t know how to tell you. In our world some people, like our parents and us, eat only plants and nuts and fruit and stuff. But others, others . . .” Then like her brother, she too became speechless.

Gazelle looked at the two. Suddenly a feeling of dread unlike anything she had ever felt came over her. “Children, what else do humans eat?” she asked hoarsely.

Tears filled the children’s eyes and began to slowly run down their cheeks. Neither could say a word.

“No! Oh no!” Gazelle whispered huskily. Then she collapsed, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Please, children please tell me it’s not so,” she pleaded. The children still couldn’t speak.

With profound grief, Gazelle said the one word she dreaded to.

“Animals?”

Both children nodded, tears now streaming down their faces. Gazelle had spoken very softly and yet every animal had heard her. And like Gazelle, they all knew why they had felt the fear.

On a distant world where humans ruled and animals had no way to speak, humans ate animals. 

At that moment, a sense of disbelief, of grief, overwhelmed every Lundeerian. They were speechless, unable to believe what they had heard. No, it couldn’t be. It just wasn’t possible. The children had to be wrong.

(To be continued...)