Flash Fiction Anthology

The ill giraffe

When Josh finally took his eyes off his most favourite photograph in the gallery, his classmates were already gathered around the teacher in front of another work of art.

Josh loved this place, he had come here many times with his mum, but this was the first time their teacher, Miss Bloom, brought them here. It was very exciting; it meant that they, all the seven-years-olds, were big boys and girls now.

He had to walk fast past the red, flickering 'NO RUNNING' sign, to catch up with them.

Miss bloom was already explaining, when he joined his little group. "So, kids, this is another photograph of an extinct animal. Anybody knows its name?"

A few little hands shot up in the air, and the teacher chose Alan, Josh's best friend, to respond.

"It's a giraffe, miss," he said, standing on his tiptoes to look taller, obviously proud of himself

"Great, Alan!", the teacher said, beaming at him. "Could anyone explain us the picture? What's going on there?"

Josh was very shy and quiet usually, but when he noticed that no one else had raised their hands, he decided to respond. He knew all about this picture from his mum.

"The boy is trying to protect the giraffe, miss. He his handing it some tissues, because it's ill."

"That's true, Josh! Can you tell us why is it ill?"

"Hmm...most animals got ill before they died. It was our fault. We, our great-grandparents released so much CO2 in the atmosphere that the weather got really hot for a while. But as soon as they got rid of some of it, they noticed that the Sun was getting weaker, and the Earth cooled down too fast. That's what mummy says...", he said, blushing and looking at his mates shyly.

"Well done Josh! Do you know why the boy is only wearing shorts if it was so cold that the animals died?"

"Yes miss. The artist, the one who made this picture, wants to show us that we, humans, can adapt to any condition, but the animals suffer. That's why he put the flock of wild birds above the giraffe-- they fleeded, I mean fled, from the cold, too."

"Cool Josh, clever boy. The birds were called migratory, and they used to fly to warmer places when winter came. Do you remember what were the four seasons kids?"

"Yes, miss" the class echoed back.

"Good. So, the ill giraffe and the birds represent all the extinct and suffering animals. The boy is all of us, who should try to help and protect the remaining ones. Because we are stronger and more resilient than animals, or most plants. Does anyone know what did we, humans, do to protect our planet from the cold?"

Only one hand shot up now, the hand of Eve, a little know-it-all of the class.

"Eve?" Miss Bloom called.

"We made that," the girl said, smiling and pointing to the next picture. It showed a bee and a butterfly, sitting on a flower under a glass bell. "An artificial atmosphere. But, it is not great, as it doesn't allow us to travel into space anymore," the girl added, her smile fading now.

"Good, Eve, that's correct. But don't you worry, soon someone will invent an artificial Sun. It will warm our planet like the previous one, and you might just become the first astronaut in more than two hundred years," the teacher told her, stroking her hair.

"Well done everybody, let's move to the next picture," Miss Bloom went on, after a few moments of thoughtful silence. "What have we got here? Lucas, your turn to explain!"