The Women in the Dress

Chapter One.

Stories are told all the time by the elderly in this town. Some of them are believable, others are not. Some tell off creatures big and strong. One of them, they say, had a long nose called a ‘trunk’. They call this creature an ‘Elephant’. I have never seen one myself, but the elders have pictures you see. You can’t argue with a picture. We are taught that pictures are the one thing you can trust. One of the elderly’s laughed when the leaders said this. I wonder why… Pictures are taken in the moment. I don’t know how else to explain it. I went to ask the elderly women who had laughed, and she said that pictures can be altered to how they please. I don’t understand how this could be. Once an Elder tells you something though, you don’t ask questions. They are the ones with all of the knowledge of things such as ‘Elephants’. Ever since the government failed, everything basically disappeared. All the creatures that once walked this earth went extinct due to the lack of resources. The water creatures, the ones the elders say breathe underwater couldn’t breathe any longer when the water sources got mucky with oil and trash. Soon enough they all died off, and ended up floating to the surface of the water. The elders say that at that moment, they knew the world was doomed. The flying creatures, the ones who were above everything else, including the trees, they all fell down from the sky when the air got poisonous. All of the other creatures, the ones who walked on the land, could no longer move. They couldn’t walk. The trees got cut down to provide homes. That took most of the homes. The other animals that were killed off before were a major food source for most of the creatures. So the animals left. The insects are still here though, things such as bumblebees and butterflies. We keep them in a safe house filled with flowers, and pollinating grounds. We call this house the ‘palace’.  It is much like any other building. It is just filled with flowers of all sorts. It is truly beautiful. We are able to see the palace once a year. Each year it looks better than the last.

            Each one of the people is assigned to a job when they reach the age of 12. There are a few jobs. They consist of a Gardener; they take care of the palace, and make sure that those insects and flowers stay alive. The Builder; they make sure that the community keeps expanding, and they enlighten us with new creations. Before they can be presented to the people, the worshiped have to approve of it. The worshiped is the greatest yet hardest job of them all. The worshiped watch over everybody, they tell what is right and what is wrong. They also are the ones that assign jobs. The new comer in the worshiped always is trained by the eldest in the group. That way the new comer knows what to do. The next job is the listener. That is my job. The listen goes to the elderly and listens to all of the stories. We don’t have to remember them. We just have to keep in memory the ones we think are worth the while. I remember the elephant because I think that they are marvelous creatures. I have heard one story that I really like. I call it the women in the dress. Here is how it goes…