Thumbs

Compassion

The tangerine hung twelve feet above the ground like a miniature sun. It taunted the little girl who stood below. Wearing only dirty overalls and a worn out red tee-shirt, she was not dressed for climbing trees. She had lost her shoes a few day ago when she removed them on the banks of a mountain water stream. Staring at the orange tree with enormous hazel eyes, the little girl contemplated whether or not the fruit was worth cutting up her feet.

Her stomach growled with as much ferocity as an angry lion. So, the decision was made. The girl pushed her messy brown hair from her freckled face and approached the base of the orange tree. Normally orange trees were much shorter than this one. She wondered if the tree had been exposed to the IM(inmutatio mundus) virus.

"Okay Katie, you can do it." The little girl whispered as she looked up into the trees net of branches.

Gripping the trunk with her small hands she pulled herself up the tree while also using her feet to hug the twisting plant. The sharp moss covered bark made the arc of her feet sting as she slipped to get her footing, but she was compelled by her hunger to continue upward.

"Come on. Come on." She grunted softly.

The sun shined brightly through the lush green leaves, blinding her momentarily as she struggled to get better footing. Feeling herself slip, she made a last moment attempt to snag the orange by stretching her arm towards the tangerine. However the absence of her other arm to hold her against the tree made her footing wobble and disband. She immediately coiled her arm around the tree to keep from falling.

Now hugging the tree, her breathing quickened from the rush of the anticipated fall. She couldn't bring herself to move due to this fear. After a few moments to catch her breath she looked up at the tangerine, so close yet so far from her reach. Now more frustrated than afraid, Katie began to climb again. She climbed onto the branch that held the single tangerine, this time hoping that she would avoid repeating her previous mistake. She scooted towards the fruit whilst sitting on the branch, then slowly moved onto her stomach when she was close enough to the fruit to reach but not far enough for the branch to break from her weight. She stretched once more, biting her bottom lip as she strained to keep her balance.

"Just. . . a few. . . more. . ." she muttered to herself as the tips of her fingers brushed the fruit's skin. She could have approached this next step differently, but her hunger made her impatient. So, instead of thinking it through like a good little girl, she lunged for the fruit in the remaining centimeters. This caused her weight to shift, making her twist around the branch upside down.

"Ah!" She screamed as she flipped from on top of the branch, to hanging from it.

Dangling from the branch, she swung her other arm up to the branch and latched on now with both hands. Panting from the exertion, her attention had completely shifted from the food to not falling to her possible death and her very possible injury. She didn't want to break something, she couldn't afford that. Not here. She understood that much about this strange world that she now lived in. Only the strongest survived. The little and weak either hid or died.

Fretting that she was too weak to survive this ridiculous ordeal that she had gotten herself into, she attempted to lift herself back onto the branch. Her arms wouldn't pull her up. They had betrayed her.

Her fingers couldn't hold on any longer.

She fell from the branch, the tangerine mocking her from above as she dropped to the ground. Terrified, she squeezed her eyes shut.

It had only been a few seconds before she felt impact. However, it was not the hard and unforgiving ground that she felt pressed against her back. It was much smaller than that, and it was soft and firm. Surprised by her lack of pain she opened her eyes to find herself resting in two large hands.