City of IF

[BStheGreat]

The Nugget Tales

WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

The First Telling


I live in a land where the earth is scorched by fire and the sky is tainted by smoke. We are refugees from the great explosion, a tribe of survivors just getting by. There are few of us left that remember the past, few left to tell the tales of piece and prosperity that we saw in our younger years. Even fewer desire to tell of the glory days; they are either too sad to speak of them without tears, or too wise to plague our young with false hopes. But it is my job to educate them, to let them know how it all happened, how it all become. I hold the burden of telling them why their lives are filled with more pain than joy.

We all have jobs, for we are all asigned jobs. If a person becomes too weak to carry stones then he will pick fruit; if he becomes too old to face the sun then he will weave rugs in the shade. There is no stop to the work, we work until we die. When we first found one another, when are tribe was first started, I was delegated the task of the hunter. I was young back then and as strong as an ox. I helped feed the people with deer and rabbits, snakes and mice, and even a young blackbear once. Things have changed so much since those years, our tribe has since become more domesticated. We grow fruits and vegetables (mostly oranges, carrots, and potatoes, but we occasionaly harvest some apples and tomatoes) and have begun to breed livestock quite successfully.

But as the tribe grew men took wives, and babies were born. It was decided that the young should know of the past so they hopefully would learn from it and not repeat it. I, being the oldest at the time and one of the few that witnessed the events, received the job teaching them. I argued at first, my anger rose nearly to breaking point. The past was not something I was proud of, and I did not feel up for the position. But the tribe had decided, and I had nowhere else to go. A man simply can not make it in the world on his own.

So I began to tell my stories to the young as they entered into their thirteenth year, I had decided any younger would not be mature enough to understand. I was not happy about it, but I did it. And as the years passed I became better and better at telling the stories. The children were humbled by the tales, and the children seemed to gain much from them. But I knew I would not last forever, a time would come when I would pass into the heavens like everyone else. Then what would happen to the children, how would they know of the past?

I pleaded with the council to assign me an apprentice. I needed someone who could tell my stories as if they were his own, someone who could inspire and strike a much needed fear into the children. I was still young at that time, and had barely passed my fourtieth year. The council was reluctant about assigning a worker to me when they were already spread out so thin, but eventually gave in. They sent me applicant after applicant, however I turned them all down. The council sent me the stupid, the weak, those who could not work. I was satisfied with none of them, and set out to find the right person my self.

I still told my stories every day, and my routine changed very little. By in my moments of spare time I was secretely interviewing people for the job. I looked for years and years, never finding the person I needed. I eventually gave up, decided to leave it to fate. If a man was destined to take my place, so be it. If not, there was nothing I could do about it. I did my job, and asked for nothing in return.

It took twenty years since I first addressed the council for fate to finally step in. I knew he was perfect for the job the second I set my eyes upon him. He was an outsider who happened to stumble on our tribe, and he looked to be around seventeen to twenty years of age. I have never been able to find out where he was before he came to our tribe, but it couldn't have been anything joyful. He was a quiet man who spoke little, but his eyes showed me all I needed to know. I learned of his pain, his suffering in those cold, grey circles he had for eyes.

I fed him and presented him to the council hoping they would agree to make him my worker. They objected at first; although he was underfed, he was young and appeared to be perfect for manual labor. But I begged and pleaded, and they eventually gave in. I had him follow me around at first; I showed him the village, introduced him to the people. The entire time he said very little, and when he was asked his name he stated very plainly that he had no name. So I decided to call him Ted, as I knew a man named Ted once, and figured it was a name as good as any other.

The next day I introduced him to the children I was to tell the stories to, and told him to listen as closely as possible to what I said. He gave me a simple not and I began.

* * *

'Now children, gather around, there is a tale I have to tell. It is a tall set far into the past, in a place known as America. Now in America this is a place known as Virginia, and further into Virginia lay a town name Nova. In Nova live a family known as the Anders, and they like to argue. They would always argue about things of no particular importance, and cause a loud ruckus that could be heard for miles and miles.

The Anders were a large family, there was Mr. and Mrs. Anders, along with their two daughters Chrissy and Linda, and their four boys, Mathew, James, Joseph, and Luke. Mathew and James were both in college, a place where they would learn how to do their jobs, and so they did not live at home. this left Joseph, Luke, Mr. and Mrs. Anders, and their two daughters all in one house. Chrissy and Linda were the most argumentative of family, they were constantly arguing every single day. This day was no exception.

Chrissy accused Linda of eating one of her chicken nuggets, and began yelling at her for doing it. A chicken nugget is a food they used to have in the past, a breaded sort of chicken cube that some people dipped in various sauces. Chrissy was so sure that Linda ate one of her nuggets, that she began screaming and yelling.

“Goddamnit Linda, why are you always fucking stealing my shit. I payed for those chicken nuggets, and I wanted to eat them!” Chrissy screamed.

“I didn't eat your stupid nugget you fat bitch!” Linda replied.

“Dad! Linda stole my nugget and called me a fat bitch”

“NO I DIDN'T! Chrissy won't stop yelling at me. Why does everyone always blame me for everything!?”

What Chrissy didn't know was that Linda actually didn't eat her nugget, it was in fact Luke that did. But Luke wasn't about to get involved, he casually walked away and hid in his room, trying to drown out the sound of the two girls screaming. Mr. Anders did little to calm the tempers of the two raging women, and eventually began cursing under his breath and returning to his room.

Joseph had a huge Physics final the next day (a test so he might get the right job he wanted) and was hoping to get to sleep earlier than usual. He was just beginning to drift off into his dreams when the yelling started. “What the fuck is wrong with you people, can you see that I am trying to fucking sleep. Shut your mouths you stupid little whores!” Joseph began yelling as loud as he could.

Well that only angered the two girls more, and they decided to combine their yelling at Joseph instead. And poor little Joseph, who had planned on going to be earlier than usual ended up getting little to no sleep that night. Needless to say, he did not do too great on his test the next day. He barely got done with half the test when he drifted off into a deep sleep. He awoke to his teaching telling the class that time was up, and everyone had to turn in their exams. Joseph's was only have done.

Joseph begged the teacher to let him retake the test, and tried to explain to the teacher why he fell asleep. But the teacher would not give in. Joseph left extremely angry and went directly to lunch. He sat down where he usually did, with all his friends at the table in the center of the cafeteria (a room where everyone ate at). He didn't say much to his friends, he was too pissed off about the test. When Joseph got up to use the bathroom, he wasn't paying attention and bumped into a kid, causing him to spill his food trey onto the floor. The boy was a freshman, which basically meant that everybody hated him. And what was more, he dressed in all black, had black hair, and even painted his finger nails black.

Because he was pissed off, Joseph decided he was going to teach this weirdo a lesson. “Watch where you're going you fucking freak!” Joseph yelled as he sent a right hook right into the kids cheek. Everyone around them started laughing as the kid curled up into a ball and began crying. But that was something Joseph would soon learn to regret. It was lucky that a teacher saw Joseph throw the punch, for Joseph was not allowed to come back to school the next day.

What happens next will have to wait until tomorrow unfortunately children.'

'Awe, it was just getting interesting!' One of the children called out.

'I know, I know Henry, but you will just have to wait until tomorrow. Be here at the same time kids, and do not be late this time Frank.' I called out to the children as they scrambled away.