Alves couldn't break his eyes off his palm. He kept staring at the bird which was seated in his palm. He could swear that he heard the voice from his palm... which could only mean one thing. Since his palm could not speak, only the bird could?"Did you just say something?"He asked, staring keenly at the beaks of the bird as though his eyes could pluck answers out of them. No other world came from the bird anymore. It was dead silence. Alves looked away from the bird towards the direction of the two bamboo stalks which the bird must have referred to. "Can a bird talk?"He found himself trying to review that topic again. It was strange and random. No matter how tall he was, or the height he might climb, he could never had seen that mystery coming. Like he couldn't see the rest too. "Did you just talk? Did you say those two bamboo stalks... I mean, do you mean the space between the two bamboo stalks, that throws me away, is a portal?"He had so many questions, and it was rather funny
From the manner at which Alves stared at the old man who was approaching, there was no doubt that he was crushed under the weight of confusion. And he couldn't get himself the answer that he needed. He would have to wait it out, for either of the two to tell him what the hell had just happened. "Crawl your way down to his Eminence!"The old man yelled at the youth, and the latter started to do as instructed. He kept crawling until he got to where Alves was standing, with the bird in his palm. As soon as the both of them got to Alves, the old man went down on his knees too. And both the old and young man were kneeling before Alves, in heartfelt bows. Before Alves could even think of words to speak, the old man had beat him to it,"His Eminence, please forgive my insolent son for his thoughtless behaviour towards you. I will take the punishment for this abominable act which he had just exhibited."Alves' eyes were on the old man. He couldn't take his eyes off. It was obvious that the
Alves drove towards the big apartment of Mia. There was no life in sight. It was unusually quiet. He could take that as a sign, but instead, he stepped out of the car. There was nothing to be worried about in sight. The fact was that, he knew that the last thing he should do was visit Mia. Not necessarily because of how they departed the last time. But because of the possible threats the media posed at any meeting that brings the both of them together. The large gate holding the fences together couldn't open before him, because his car was not registered to the building. He walked closer to the gate and pushed the alarm bell. He waited for a while and the small gate for legs was pushed open. "Who is that?"He heard a voice as soon as the door was pushed opened. Following the voice, was a head pushed past the barrier of the door. "I want to meet Mia."He said to the man. It would be reasonable if the man choose to be rude to him. Mia might had fed her workers with venom, following
Alves kept walking. As he walked on, he took a glance at Mia. He expected her to look away at once, or perhaps roll her eyes at him, but she didn't. Instead, she had concern crawling up her face, or perhaps curiosity. Alves was approaching the young man standing by the hanging fancy basket. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted anymore. He got to the man, wearing no precise reaction. He threw his searching gaze at the old man, the celebrant. The founder of the VIAL SHOWER. That would be his first time seeing the man. "So, Mr Alves, can we please get to the good part? There are a lot of attendants who would love to present their gifts."The young man announced. When the fellow had referred to the rest of people in the hall as attendants, there had been a wave of chatter inspired by disagreement. But neither Alves nor the Young man was willing to say anything to that. Soon enough, all attention was back to Alves. Alves turned to the crowd, looking from on
"What was that about?"That was the first words that Mia would utter since they made out for the road. They had been driving since quite a while and dead silence had been their neighbour. Asking that question changed everything, as Alves turned slowly to look at her. Her eyes were searching and serious. It was obvious that she wouldn't give him a break until he had answered her question. He took in a deep breath, then looked away from her. After a wave of breeze had swept past the both of them,"Shouldn't the question be where I am taking to?"Alves changed the direction of the question. She plucked her gaze from him for a while. "You don't want me to stop this car by force. But if that's the one choice you give me, I'll do just that."She reached out suddenly to struggle with him, trying to snatch the wheel away from him. "Okay Okay..."Alves couldn't take the risk. WHAT A CRAZY LADY. He cussed within him, then found a place to pull over, by the road side. There was a weird sil
Alves was more eager in getting to know her side of the story, than getting to know the reason why the ALUWA had shown uninvited and out of thin air. Not important. Not at that moment. Every passing minute, his doubts and speculations kept fleshing up into something of great significance. The more he observed, the more he realised that Mia might know more than he had envisaged. On the ordinary, it was hard to say whether or not that was a good thing. The both of them were standing close enough to each other, her hand clutching his. Her eyes were glued on the ALUWA who were still bowing to the earth; knees brushing the dirt, face plung into the dust, in utmost humility. "Did you just mention the ALUWA?"Alves was way too curious to hide it. Though the words were out before he intended them to, yet he never regretted the action. And for a few seconds, as though she was knocked out of her fantasies, Mia plucked her gaze from the ALUWA, throwing a very stern gaze at Alves. Her facia
It was as though Alves had closed his eyes and opened them in a blink. As though he had just shut his eyes after his pupils had been hit by a blinding light. That was how it seemed when he regained his consciousness. It seemed random and natural, as though nothing happened in the first place. But of course he knew that what happened could never be ignored. "Where am I?"Were the first few words his brain could coin. He traced his eyes down his body till they got to his legs. He was standing uprightly. On something which looked like a steep. But that wasn't really the most important thing at that moment. What was more important and interesting at that moment was what he was putting on. "What!"He exclaimed, but it was weakly. He quickly pinched his trouser to feel the texture of the clothing. It wasn't what he used to feel or know. "This can't be true."He muttered again. He wasn't even paying an attention to his language. "What am I wearing? What is this attire?"The more ques
"How can I suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere?"Alves complained as he walked through the tiny path bordered by the assemblies of thick shrubs. "Could the ALUWA or whatever their name is, really lie to me?"He took a sigh. "What would they had gained though? Lying to me that I am the king of an unknown country. What could have been in for them?"He scoffed,"I must be really dumb to have believed what they said."But the more he talked to himself, the deeper his thoughts widened. "If its true that they lied to me, then why did that bird come into the context. Or was the bird also a paid actor?"He chuckled. Then suddenly he heard a sound. He stopped walking. For no reason, he looked down at his shoes. They were funny looking. But that wasn't what to be worried about. While staring at his shoes, he noticed something under one of his soles. He bent down to pick it. He shifted his leg to a side then picked it up. He put it up, a broken twig. "I thought it was something impor