The Black Monster

SOL #15

The Black Monster

March 16, 2009

“What’s that!?” I asked the tennis coach fearfully. A giant blanket of black smoke rose over the horizon. The beautiful, blue sky drowned in the dark sea of smoke that elevated its self with no respite. I was so concentrated on the black monster that I forgot to hold on to my tennis racket and was startled when it hit the ground making a sharp metallic sound.

There was a sound the monster made, too. It was a crackling and popping sound, the sound of the warm fireplace that once upon a time warmed up a house on a chili December in the north. But in Panama, this sound wasn’t comforting, it wasn’t the second most delightful thing other that granny’s gingerbread cookies when it snows outside. It was the sound of fire that was burning something that wasn’t meant for burning. Something that couldn’t move by it’s own will, but something that might enjoy the evening wind as it brushed through its leaves with warm and soothing fingers. Something that might enjoy when the rain ran down its body and danced at the points of its leaves until the water drops gave up and dripped to the waiting ground. The fire was burning some of the only things that couldn’t save themselves from it, the trees.

No! I thought. Who put fire on? Why aren’t the firemen there? Questions swarmed around my head, but they fled around one word, why? Why did people burn trees for no reason? Why weren’t the firemen there yet? And why did everybody take it so calmly, as if it happened every day? My nose thrills fled, I picked up my racket, and the coach ignored the monster that hovered on top of us. He threw me a tennis ball, my mind wasn’t clear; I flung the racket, the ball shoot over the 10 meter fence. A woman – twenty-two years old or so – jumped to the side as the ball bounced with a Pam! On the exact place where she was standing.

“Home Run.” My coach mumbled. I little black thing landed lightly on the tip of my nose, I touched at it dissolved into black dust. I stared at the dark dust that fell on the ground, then I noticed another one, and another, another and…the next thing I know the whole sky is full of the little ashes.

“What are these?” I demanded at him.

“Oh, those are…” he muttered a word; I stared in disbelief at him. They were used to them, so used to them they even gave them a name?! How could they do that? Just ignore and let it happen all the time? I was stupid! No, wrong word, it was ignorant! Instead of giving it a name they could try to stop it or at least complain or…My thought was interrupted by a bitter, powdery taste in my throat.

“Agh!!!!*Gasp* *Wheeze* *Cough, cough* *Spit*” I squeaked out noises that should come out of a person drowning on a piece of bone or something. I fell on the floor cupping my neck in my arms. Putui! Gasp! I managed to spit out whatever was in my throat and breathe. I had breathed in one of those stupid ashes and almost killed myself. When I kept my eyes closed, but the red color the sun made when it beamed on top my eyelids disappeared, I saw darkness, and voices. I couldn’t make it. I’m dead! I thought. I lay motionless thinking that this wasn’t how I imagined death.

“Esta Muerta? Is she dead?” A boy’s voice whispered in a scared voice,

“Que pritty! Un cadáver! Cool! A corpse!” Another boy said amazed,

“Aunque este muerta, no es algo de que alegrarse! Que le diremos al papa? Even if she’s dead it doesn’t mean we should be happy! What are we going to tell her father?” I heard my coach said,

“Y si la metemos en la parte de atrás del carro? And what if we put her in a car trunk?” The amazed boy said.

“Si eres bruto, no? Cuanto crees que le durara al papa a encontrarla? You sure are stupid, huh? How much time do you think it would take her dad to find her?” the scared boy said. Then I knew I wasn’t dead. I felt a tickle in my throat and coughed a couple time.

“Esta viva! Pero se esta ahogando! Rápido! Alexis! Dale reparación de boca a boca! She’s alive! But she’s drowning! Quickly! Alexis! Give her mouth to mouth respiration!” The anxious boy said. No! I thought, I’m not going to let a strange do that to me! I scrambled and sat up. The anxious boy screamed. The scared one now looked t me with relieved. I didn’t know weather it was because I was alive or if he was happy he didn’t apply mouth to mouth respiration on me. I looked at the anxious boy with piercing eyes. He backed off automatically. But what P.O.’ed me the most was that the black monster was still up in the sky, and the ashes were still falling down. Ok, I thought, this is officially the deadliest, health harassing, most annoying contamination I’ve EVER seen.