Dance of the Dodo(WIP) Preview
We found out, albeit a little too late, that the world wouldn't end with a bang or whimper. But a flash, a fire hotter than the combined desires and passions of our species. A rage ten billion strong wouldn't hold a candle to the will of the universe, entropy, nuclear fission. We all learned together that a campfire could best us.
Nothing we are, nothing more than white, burnt out ash rising on a current of air. A dance above the flames we've become far too comfortable with.
Mourn the missed potential, the work still unfinished. Mourn what we've done and what we can't now rectify. Mourn what you wish, but we have the Dodo. We can watch it dance to the strings of our hearts. The motion of our souls. Shouldn't we be so polite as to watch the show?
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“Whak! Whak!” the music stopped and the dancers complained, racing back to their friends, family, loved ones at the tables. Like a spell was broken and stage fright set in.
A few minutes later the band began to play, the orchestra having filed out, and from underneath the many table cloths on the many tables in the dance hall a few hook nosed beaks poked back out at the first pull of the violin bow. Those big, dumb, hugable birds loved music, almost as much as their benefactors do.
You know when you hear a song and you find your foot tapping? The Dodo are the living embodiment of that act.
Two out of three times you'll hear the little 'click' 'click' of their feet, see the side to side sway of their head, carrying the whole body with it as a small 'coo-coo' purrs in their throat before you've even recognized the song. If you're anyone with a heart, the scene WILL make you smile, maybe laugh if the days have been long. Gives you another reason to let the heart grow big, maybe give naivety another chance. You can start with your Dodo. And if you're anyone like George Sebastian Day, sometimes its where you need to start over.
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“Whak!”
George turned over, still asleep, oblivious to the 45 pounds of poultry and feather looking up at him over the lip of the bed.
“Whak!”
“Ahh!” George woke with a start as his bed shook slightly and two big feet clicked against the hardwood floor of his bedroom. Well, laminate hardwood to be exact. He didn't have that kind of money. “Socrates...” he groaned.
“Whak whak!” the dodo replied happily, trying and failing again to jump up on the bed, knowing there was food and shoulder scratches in his near future.
George reached out a hand and the dodo put his head under it, like a big warm hat. “Oh no, I don't get a sleeping mask neither do you.” He wiggled his fingers and ruffled the feathers at the back of Socrates' head and neck, drawing a series of content coos and what sounded like a gosling purring. Finally opening an eye George looked at the blinds in front of his bedroom window, a warm yellow/orange glowed from around the sides, previous experience told George it was nearing 8am. Breakfast and paper delivery, one or the other always roused Socrates sometime before ten. Today was an early morning.
Remembering his statement George lifted his hand and used it to pull back his blanket and sheet, each waded and rolled over the other so it came away in a soft, cottony mass that sent a single white feather into the air. “I think thats yours.” George pointed to the feather but found Socrates had already switched gears and was poking his under the bed, looking for desperately imagined fruit or possibly a forgotten pizza slice.
“Whaak...whak whak whak...” George knew that sound and it was only going to rise in tempo until it was a rapid fire machine gun of 'whak whak whak whak!' that he was already starting to hear. Socrates was hungry, that was his 'feed me' sound. It made George laugh and Socrates annoyed every time.
George laughed.
Socrates got louder.
And thus life began again.
It was a good way start to a confusing day. Gave you a foundation to build on.
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The Dodo missed a bullet, in the species ending sense. Native to only three islands not far from Madagascar, lived and evolved for millennia with no predators, they were a species that needed a protector to thrive beyond the tiny rock they lived upon. That knight in shining armour turned out to be us, first bred and raised in number by the Austronesian peoples of Borneo. The oral history states that the first visitors to the island decided to stop killing the creatures because the birds would gather and dance around the fire with the men during religious dance and song. In their minds the birds were worshiping their gods as well, and must be their messengers or some type of spirit working on their behalf. Since then the birds have been held in high esteem in native southeastern African religions and culture, killing a Dodo carried a steep punishment and playing music they ignored could ruin someone's reputation and good standing.
Humanity's custom-made pet in the opinion of many people, came out the gate domesticated. The Buddhists and Hindus believe they were created as a companion to man as women was(though no one can recall and the fact lost to history on how the birds arrived in India hundreds of years before the Austronesians ever knew of them). India was one of the first large civilizations to raise and breed the birds. Cows are sacred, the Dodo a friend, it's humanity's responsibility to ensure both species flourish. Domesticated by nature, with bad tasting meat to ensure we wouldn't eat them out of existence. A little piece of Nirvana forgotten and left on earth, a reminder from the universe to seek peace and contentment in all things.
So it was the first western interaction with the birds was during Alexander's conquest, history records that Alexander took a liking to them after enjoying a choreographed dance done by the birds during a diplomatic meeting with a local Shiek some months before the conquer's death. Stories and drawings of the dodos and their dancing, these giant, foul tasting chickens, traveled back to Macedonia through the supply lines and interested the upper citizenry who sent envoys to trade for and acquire these strange creatures. After the fragmenting of Alexander's empire the birds were vogue in the Seleucid empire and a mild success with the Bactrians. The upper classes kept personnel herd's of the birds, breeding them for skill and more pleasing features, anyone who was anyone had their own troupe of dancing dodos. The royal fools of the avian world and relatively inexpensive meat for the masses.
When the Greeks were conquered by the Romans the Dancing Dodos, like most things Greek, were adopted with vigor by the Romans, who took the birds with them as they conquered and settled. They became a prop in plays, especially comedies. A particularly lewd one had a group of dodos dancing to a man playing a stringed instrument with his erection.
As with dogs, by the time America had become a super-power the modern species of Dodos had been around for decades, bred to be cuter, fluffier, and easily trainable. A popular breed is the 'pillow top' dodo, named for the large, fluffy, dapple gray and white poof of feathers that grow around the head and down the neck giving it the look of a cotton ball with a toucan beak sticking out the front. It requires the owner to prune the feathers around the eyes lest they want their Dodo running into everything blind as bats.
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Thanks for sticking around for the history lesson and just remember, knowing is power. Now lets get back to the story, you're about to meet some adorable tykes and see something fun! Isn't that exciting?
Well, it would be if the story was finished and this was just a preview.
For a full story consider buying my book :D
https://www.amazon.com/When-Fall-Down-Will-Still-ebook/dp/B006LLWV0E