Inspiration: Picture sent by Nienke Huitenga.
The picture is an add for Savora Hotels made by McCann Marketing Services
The picture is an add for Savora Hotels made by McCann Marketing Services
Hunger is a horrible feeling, it’s the sense of having an
emptiness inside, a hollowness that makes you weak. I had not yet experienced
it on that specific morning, when I overheard two villagers discussing their
craving for food. After a successful hunt I was resting in my usual tree,
accompanied by the hind legs of a gazelle, just a few yards away from the
villagers. I don’t think the people noticed my presence, but maybe they were
just too hungry and weak to care.
Really, I can understand lots of human talk, but some
concepts are strange to me, such as jobs and money. I have a vague feeling it
has something to do with food and survival. This morning, while I was enjoying
a full belly on the shadowy branch of my tree, I overheard them talking about
leaving the savanna and heading for the city, traveling towards the sunset, in
order to escape the hunger.
I forgot all about it for some time, living my own life in
my daily routine of sleeping my days away and hunting at night. One morning, I
was brutally waked by loud and roaring noises and a horrible smell. Provoked
like that I jumped from my tree, roaring back at the big loud monsters
approaching. All of a sudden people were shouting at me, trying to drive me
away. Irritated, I snarled and hissed, defending my territory. But it was just
me against lots of them, so I took my leave and wandered off, determined to
come back later.
And so I did, sneaking my way back, sensing from far
something terrible had happened. The grass was gone, the pool had changed into a puddle of debris
and my tree, my lovely tree, had disappeared. There was nothing, a wasteland of
nothing, a vast landscape of stench and mud. I was devastated, not sure what to
do. Smelling their food, I circled around the camp of the people, but they kept
chasing me away. Knowing I had to find a new place to live I tried to follow
the herds of prey, only to be met by hostile predators, hunting the same game.
I became an outcast, stealing whatever I could get my paws on.
It was the start of my acquaintance with hunger and not to
my pleasure. One night I remembered the talk of the villagers and decided to
follow their lead. I started my journey towards the sunset, the promised land,
the city.
The landscape has changed. It smells a lot like the foul smell of the
destruction of my habitat. My pawns have blisters from the hot and hard
surface. My ears are ringing with the constant noises. There are people
everywhere, screaming at me, trying to scare me, smelling of fear themselves.
It is awful, all of it, but I have to endure. Most of all I hate the trees,
they are sleek and slippery, hard to climb, almost impossible. I miss the
branches and even more the shade in these leafless trees. I rest here, in one
of those strange trees. I sleep in broad daylight, exposed to the sun, waiting
for the night to fall.
I’d like to know how much further I have to travel to reach
the city and wonder what it will be like. It cannot be worse than this. I am yearning
to end my travels and reach that promised land. I can almost picture myself in
my beautiful green tree, standing in the outstretched grassland of the city.
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