Short Story Entry: Twisted Necks

Field Report: Twisted Necks
by
S.A. Merk

I’ve lived a lot of years in the few short months I’ve been on this planet. Born just a few weeks ago, I’ve seen a lot of this gorgeous country and met some wonderful aliens along the way. And odd race, but until now, they have helped my mother care for me. They had an odd smell, always changing, always pungent.

They wore environmental suits that covered all but their heads and hands, weird appendages with long, jointed tendrils. They communicated in some kind of high-pitched gurgling that sounds like they are trying to talk through their nose. But today, I find myself reflecting on my journey so far and the winding path that brought me here; coordinates 44.5000° N, 89.5000° W.

My life has certainly taken some fantastic turns.

It all began a few years ago when I was lying in my crib box, minding my own business. Momma had just fed me and I was taking a well-deserved nap. There is nothing like taking a long nap after struggling with your brothers and sisters to get a meal from momma. But despite the scratching and pushing, I feel closer to them for the experience. However, that is also what makes this next part so traumatic.

Like I said, I was just lying there snoozing away in some open field of dreams when all of a sudden an alien appendage reaches out and grabs us, one by one. Each of my brothers and sisters were snatched and suspended by the neck and twisted around in some unnatural exam. I could smell the strange on them. I watched my brother, suspended in the air above us, as they did their experiments on him. These aliens, who had been so kind to us before, had turned on us. One by one, my brothers and sisters were twisted by the neck, poked and prodded, and eventually taken away...never to be seen again.

The day came when the now familiar appendage reached in, picked me up, and twisted me by the neck to examine me...even my genitals. For some reason, it was important to this alien to find out what gender I was. I don’t know why they couldn’t tell by my smell. I was giving off enough pheromones to call to someone yards away.

They took me away, carried me by the neck, and stuck me in a cell. There were bars on the door and slits cut in the walls so I could see outside, but I hadn’t really woken up yet, so everything was quite a blur. For some reason I just couldn’t shake the cobwebs from my mind. Maybe it was the water. Seriously...I took a quick drink to cleanse my palate after my feeding and the water tasted funny. There could’ve been something in it. After all, I’m only a few weeks old at this time...what the hell do I know?

Anyway, I must have passed out and the next thing you know, I’m waking up in a spaceport on some other part of the planet, much colder, much further away from my family. I twisted my head as far as my neck would turn to get a glimpse of something, anything familiar.

I was alone and far from home.

I knew they had put me on a transport ship because I could smell the fuel. My cell, this small cage, was covered in its sickening odor. I knew it wasn’t my home region, because I could smell so many varieties of fragrant flora and hundreds of species of alien fauna. The cool, clean air drifted through the slits in my prison cell and I could sense so many things. I couldn’t believe my nose. But, what I couldn’t smell was...momma.

A big burly alien, his enviro-suit was obviously some kind of uniform, grabbed the small box I was imprisoned in and dropped me like a piece of luggage onto a swift-moving conveyor belt. There were a number of them, laughing and throwing things like insane jesters at some demented circus. I wasn’t quite alert yet, but I knew I didn’t like the feeling of moving without moving. I knew I didn’t like not knowing where I was being taken.

I could see out the bars of my cell and it looked like I was on an onyx pathway that moved on its own. I thought I was going to toss my lunch right out the bars of my cell. Good thing I hadn’t eaten lunch. I hadn’t been fed since I was taken. I was a kidnap victim and from the smell of it, I was thousands of miles away from home; and now I’m being dropped like an old piece of luggage onto a moving roundabout designed by evil clowns.

I tried not to shiver though. I wasn’t about to let these criminals know that I was scared. I was tough and, while I may only be eight weeks old, I had a reputation to uphold. I wasn’t about to let these low-down alien kidnappers the pleasure of seeing me scared. And that’s when I saw this friendly looking couple smiling at me through the bars.

Oh C’mon! What the hell is going on now?

First you kidnap me, you drug and drop me, and now some other aliens are going to smile and talk baby-talk to me? Really? I’m going to die...and my alien executioners are going to smile as they kill me. But there was something different, something unique about their smell and the sense I was getting from them.

And then the unthinkable happened.

My cell, this alien contraption they have imprisoned me in, was opened. I don’t know what came over me, but when I saw those metal bars fly open and a helpful pair of alien appendages picked me up and held me as if to say that my nightmare was over...I have to say...I was happy – very, very happy. They took me to their transport and I loved all the kindness and attention. Back in my family’s sector, I didn’t get much attention. Between my brothers, sisters, and momma, there was little, if any, time for me.

But now, I was the center of attention. I was the only one being coddled, being loved. Selfishly speaking...I was happy.

I had been transported a few thousand miles to find a home and a new family that loved me. I endured the indignity of being treated like an old piece of unwanted luggage. I rode an emotional rollercoaster that took me to the depths of fear and panic only to fly back up to the heights of happiness, love, and tenderness. I twisted my neck from one side to the other, my head spinning with all the excitement of a new home.

This is my final field report, I’m one lucky dog.

END
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