Green Planet

by Anthony E. Southby

  ‘That’s enough!’ Azor barked, fluttering away with an open demonstration of disgust. ‘Zip it!’

  The boys continued as if nothing had happened. Philip knew something was strangely wrong with these flower creatures. Frank on the other hand chose to see it, quite understandably, as a sensitive issue for them. After all, anyone back home would be devastated if thousands of people were killed by an exploding meteorite.

  * * * * * * * *

  After a fair amount of walking, a few forests later, the group reached a large valley with a broad river flowing peacefully through its middle. There were a few scattered colourful trees swaying calmly, spread out in all directions, and several clusters of large shapely boulders. Other than that, the valley was all open land, with large random spreads of long green grass. The descent to the valley floor was very gradual and the boys proceeded carefully down the rocky slope. The four little winged ladies drifted ahead, chatting softly amongst themselves, satisfied with the two boys’ pleasant attitude towards the journey ahead. They were coasting quite far up front by now, carefully guiding the boys over rocks and other dangerous obstacles along the path.

  Azor was growing extremely impatient with their snail pace stroll and was seriously contemplating abandoning them. She was a selfish independent, and patience was not one of her strong points. Philip felt a creepy sense of doubt erecting the hairs on the back of his head; something just didn’t feel right.

  ‘Frank!’ Philip whispered loudly, stepping carefully between two large rocks. Perspiration poured off his face while he checked to see if any of the fairies were in hearing range.

  ‘Yes, what’s up?’

  ‘I don’t trust these fairies, what do you think?’

  ‘Come on, Philip, don’t be so negative; they are here to help us.’

  ‘Don’t speak so loudly, they might hear us.’

  ‘So what if they do?’

  ‘Shhh!’ Philip exclaimed, desperate not to be heard.

  ‘Philip, I think you watch too many movies.’

  ‘Didn’t you get upset when they tried to save you?’

  ‘Of course I did, I made a stink.’

  ‘What did they say to make you trust them like this?’

  ‘They said that they know Chimzen, and that he had to go back home for an emergency.’

  ‘And you believe that?’

  ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ Frank exclaimed loudly, exasperated with all the questions.

  The flower fairies began to notice all the arguing and turned to face the boys.

  ‘What’s the problem ,boys?’ Azor snapped impatiently. ‘Are you going to stop arguing and hurry up? Or do you want to stay here and starve to death?’

  ‘Er yes mam, sorry mam,’ Frank muttered, shocked by her sudden outburst.

  ‘Zwhy do zyou zshout at zhim like that Azor? Do zyou zwant to blow our cover, oui?’ Gallica whispered loudly, forcing Azor backwards by the shoulder.

  ‘Listen Gallica, this is not a crèche and I won’t tolerate a bunch of delinquent misfits that can’t behave properly! If they…’

  Paulina shoved her hands over Azor’s face to cut short the flow of poisonous speech.

  ‘Shush mun shush!’ Paulina snapped, looking back and smiling sweetly at the two surprised boys.

  Azor floated in a huff with crossed arms, trying her best not to let her temper manifest its deadly poison again. Gallica floated innocently towards the boys in an attempt to win their favour with her sweet-scented head of blooming roses and her soft seductive tongue.

  ‘Zso sorry boys, zshe does tend to fly off ze handle every znow and zen,’ she said, stroking their cheeks softly, attempting a cute smile with great difficulty.

  ‘Er well,’ Philip said shyly.

  ‘Zshe like zis with everyone, don’t zworry! Zshes very hard to live wiz, but zshe does try, zyou know. The zing is zshe has a zvery good heart zyou know; please zbe patient my friendz, oui.’

  Frank and Philip nodded in return. What choice did they have anyway? Even if there was a doubt in their minds, they had come so far already. They were absolutely starved by now and the thirst was unbearable. They were very near the river; if anything they had to have some water. If they ran away now they would most probably dehydrate, and who knows what these fairy creatures were capable of.

  ‘Zwe will eat zsoon my frendz, don’t zworry, zwe will eat zsoon, oui,’ Gallica said, stroking them softly on the head, knowing exactly which buttons to push to maintain their approval. The truth of the situation is that the flower fairies had marvellous magical abilities and could have whipped them up a hot steamy meal of roast beef and potatoes if they had wanted to. The promise of food was the key instrument in keeping their interest though, and starving them for a while only pleasured the wicked flower fairies all the more.

  ‘Chimzen would never leave us here Frank. Think about it; he would never go home without us for other business or whatever,’ Philip whispered, watching Rose Gallica fly after Azor to ensure that she was calm.

  ‘I don’t know what to say, Philip, I don’t know,’ Frank muttered, kicking a pile of stones in the air. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable about his hasty decision to follow the fairies. ‘He left us hanging in the trees to burn to death, didn’t he?’

  ‘He must have been in danger himself, Frank. Look, he changed us back to people again, didn’t he?’

  ‘I don’t know what to believe; all I know is that I’m tired and hungry right now,’ Frank replied wearily, spraying dozens of pebbles into the air with the tip of his shoe.

  ‘Azor is definitely evil Frank, and I can’t see Chimzen being friends with someone like her.’

  ‘Just leave it Philip, just leave it,’ Frank moaned, sucking the roof of his mouth that was dry from thirst. ‘Let’s get something to eat and drink first, before we fall over and die.’

  The exhausted boys followed after the flower fairies in silence; their parched tongues hung to the ground in desperation for a drink of water. After a short while Frank noticed the bright morning sunlight reflect off the river in the near distance.

  ‘Water, Philip! Water!’ he yelled, his eyes bulging out on stalks in delight while he sprinted towards the gently flowing river. Philip raised his sweaty chin from his chest, looking ahead in excitement, and dashed eagerly after Frank.

  ‘Wait for me, Frank! Wait for me!’ he yelled, ready to gulp the refreshing water down by the gallon.

  The flower fairies hovered cross-armed, looking with wicked smirks on their faces.

  ‘Watch this ladies,’ Azor said with a slanted smile, waving her petite little fairy finger in a circular motion towards Philip, and muttering something sinister under her breath. The other three fairies watched on in delight as Philip tripped and launched mysteriously forward in full flight. The poor boy plummeted to the ground like a bag of cement. As if he had just tripped over a rock or something, he hastily stretched out his hands to prevent a nasty fall.

  ‘Ouch!’ he yelled, shredding the skin off his palms and tearing a large hole in his school shirt. He grazed himself above his ribs and the shredded surface wound stung like hell-fire. Frank slid to a halt and turned to see what had happened to his friend.

  ‘What’s wrong Philip?’ he yelled, panting like a St. Bernard on a hot summer’s day as he walked back. ‘How did you fall?’

  ‘I don’t know; I didn’t see anything.’ He sounded dazed, holding his palms together with a look of anguish on his face.

  Frank knelt next to him, and placed his hand gently on his shoulder, trying his best to comfort him in his pain. Being a good boxer, Frank was an expert when it came to pain management and would have more than gladly taken his friend’s cuts and bruises upon himself, if that were at all possible. He glanced across at the flower fairies, and to his horror, he noticed them smiling and sniggering amongst themselves.

  Rose Gallica realized Frank had spotted them chuckling in amusement, and cautiously flew across to him, forcing her facial features into an expression of
concern.

  ‘I don’t understand it Frank, I mean, I just fell over for no reason at all,’ Philip whined, looking miserable and confused.

  ‘Are zyou alright zyoung man?’ Gallica asked, pampering his bleeding palms with her tiny hands, trying her best to look sympathetic.

  Frank looked on in anger, unsure of how to deal with the situation. If these flower fairies had magical powers, what chance did he and Philip have of trying to defend themselves? How would it help to lose his cool? Frank shook his head, in the realization that all his friend’s paranoia was a reality, and that nothing on the planet was up to any good.

  ‘Come on, let’s go!’ Frank demanded, brutally grabbing Philip by the arm and dragging him off to the river. Gallica hovered behind, with no reply to her feeble concern. Philip followed behind, a bit shaken and alarmed by Frank’s hasty reaction.

  ‘What’s wrong, Frank?’ he asked, a bit pale in the cheeks.

  ‘You didn’t trip Philip,’ Frank replied abruptly.

  ‘What do you mean, I didn’t trip?’

  ‘You were right; those flower children are as wicked as sin.’

  ‘Why do you say that all of a sudden?’

  ‘Cause they were laughing their asses off when you fell, and I’m positive that one of them made you fall.’

  ‘Oh,okay,’ Philip answered, too shaken to ask any more questions.

  The boys arrived at the riverbank, and looked down at the gently flowing water for a moment. It was amazing; the water was crystal clear and pure, unlike the polluted, murky rivers back home. The water ran deep, with a soft green moss type substance spread over its bed and rocks below in thick layers. There were no fish to be seen anywhere, of course, or any other form of river bed life, other than plenty of thick green layers of slime.

  ‘What are you waiting for Philip?’ Frank asked, watching him stare into the bottomless pool, while he knelt down and dipped his face into the precious water.

  The boys drank endless gulps of life sustaining liquid to quench their desperate thirst with water, which they had taken completely for granted back home. It was cool, slightly sweet and pleasantly refreshing.

  ‘That was the best water I’ve ever had in my whole life!’ Philip exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. He soaked his throbbing palms in the water’s soothing coolness, and splashed his grazed side in relief.

  ‘Fan-blimming-tastic!’ Frank cried with satisfaction, wiping his dripping face on his grubby sleeve.

  ‘Let’s go for a swim Philip, what d’you say?’ he suggested, sticking his nose down his smelly shirt in disgust.

  ‘Good idea Frank.’ He hastily stripped off his clothes, without giving it a second thought.

  They splashed and screamed excitedly in the cool water, wearing nothing but underwear. It felt amazingly refreshing after the last days’ events.

  * * * * * * * *

  The flower fairies seated themselves on a large boulder, close to the riverbank, and spouted ladylike commentary.

  ‘Don’t zyou zink zey look rather cute in zose little jocks, oui?’ Gallica chirped, watching the boys splash about with a naughty smile on her face.

  ‘They are just kids! Whut are ya saying, Gallica mun?’ Paulina snapped.

  ‘Oui, I know zat Paulina, but zat boy zwith ze black hair is kindza cute.’

  ‘All I know is dat dey stink; it wus unbearuble mun. A buth is exactly whut dey be needing, if ya know whut a be saying, mun.’

  ‘I agree my dear, those boys smelt absolutely appalling,’ Lilly Madonna added, turning her snooty little nose up away from the river. ‘A good scrubbing behind the trophy handles never did anyone any harm.’

  ‘Ya, dose boys be reminding me af dem sweaty bluck Nigerians buck home; dey always be stinking frum dat fierce sun in Ufrica. Dey only be huving da bath maybe wunce a munth, mun.’

  ‘That’s enough Paulina,’ Azor barked, poking the Violet fairy fiercely on the side of the face with her twiggy little fingernail. ‘You’ve never even been to earth before, what’s all this nonsense about Africa? Flower child!’

  ‘I’ll stab ya in da buck just like da Nigerians do! Ya smully Jasmun turd! Mun!’ Paulina snapped, gazing back at Azor with hate.

  ‘Just you try, you Nigerian reject…!’

  ‘That will be enough, my dears,’ Madonna interrupted assertively, shoving her delicate little hand over Azor’s poisonous mouth. ‘Please stay focused on the boys, ladies, I am positively sure that the fun will commence at any moment.’

  ‘Help! Help!’ Frank screamed, feeling something slimy tightly wrap itself around his left ankle.

  ‘What on earth is wrong with you Frank? Are you acting?’ Philip asked in surprise. He was not in the mood for Frank’s idea of a game right now.

  ‘No Philip! Something is tugging at my ankle and it’s pulling me down!’ he gurgled, gasping for his last breath of air.

  ‘Let me help you Frank!’ Philip exclaimed, thinking Frank must have caught his leg on something.

  ‘Hurry, Ph- Hur…!’

  Philip’s heart jumped in fright while he watched his friend disappear below the surface. Surely this couldn’t be happening; hadn’t they both been through enough already?

  He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with as much valuable air as they would allow, and speedily dived below the surface, in an attempt to free Frank’s ankle from whatever it was that bound it.

  The flower fairies shot off eagerly towards the river for a closer view of the drowning action.

  ‘Those boys are fools!’ Azor cackled, watching them disappear into a whirlpool of bubbles. ‘Surely they would know better than to chance any potential aqua plant life on this planet?’

  ‘Maybe they would have, if we had advised them better, my dear,’ Madonna chirped, smiling wickedly from ear to ear.

  ‘Ya, never trust anyting on dis planut, mun, never trust anyting,’ Paulina whispered, turning her Violet head arrangement from left to right slowly with a look of mystery.

  You see: the flower fairies had deceitfully neglected to inform the boys that the green moss infesting the river bed was by no means moss. The moss like plant was in fact an ancient river dweller, known as the Goza riverweed, responsible for the termination of every single living organism inhabiting rivers, dams, lakes and estuaries on planet Floran. The Goza weed was a large moss green carrot shaped river bed scrounger, with the same conical rough structure, only not quite so crunchy, and definitely no good for your eyesight. The carrot weed had several long seaweed looking, moss green strands which extended peacefully from its conical body, primarily used for smothering its victim. Human beings were a far easier target, held beneath the water by several of the binding extensions, and drowned in a matter of minutes. Humans were quite obviously rarely ever seen on modern Floran, so they were left to feed on dead leaves and grass instead. Once the prey had been killed, a thick mosquito like probe, situated at the hindquarters, would inject its victim with a deadly dissolving fluid, enabling the weed to break its prey down into small manageable pieces, for easy digestion through an orifice situated at its front end. Frank and Philip were unaware that they were swimming directly over several deadly Gozas, and it had been quite some time back since the nasty river muncher had last feasted on tasty schoolboy.

  Philip groped about at Frank’s leg; in an effort to take hold of the foreign obstacle that was dragging him under. Frank fumbled at his ankle, applying his boxing brute force to detach the foreign leafy strands of weed. The boys tugged frantically at the determined Goza extensions, both of them already starting to feel a desperate burn in the chest for want of precious oxygen. Frank was unable to free himself and started to panic, causing his remaining air supply to deplete rapidly. The determined Goza plant held on for all its worth, blocking the flow of blood to his completely numb foot. ‘Ah, at last,’ Philip thought, managing to finally loose the nasty weed from his friend’s leg. The boys launched themselves to the surface, taking in desperate gulps of air.

  The flower
fairies were chuckling amongst themselves, watching the drowning experience as if it were a live action show on reality television, short of popcorn and cool drink. All four jolted back in fright; the last thing they had expected to see were the two boys surfacing. Fortunately for the flower fairies, they weren’t even noticed; Frank and Philip were far too preoccupied with breathing and gaining their senses back.

  Unfortunately for the boys, they had disturbed an entire nest of nasty Goza weeds, which now launched to the surface in force.

  ‘Frank! Can you feel that, Frank?’ Philip screamed, while dozens of Gozas wrapped their eager leafy tentacles around his legs. ‘Frank!’

  But Frank was nowhere to be seen; he had disappeared below the surface once again. Not even a second later, Philip disappeared in a whirl of wild bubbles.

  ‘There they go again!’ Azor cheered, edging forward for a better view, amused by their sudden disappearance.

  ‘Marko!’ Madonna cried, sniggering in mockery.

  ‘Polo!’ Azor cackled in wicked delight.

  This time it was impossible; Frank was strapped firmly on both arms and legs, and completely smothered and inundated by several Goza monster slimy strands. Philip was in the same predicament, dragged down mercilessly to the river bed. The more the panic-stricken boys struggled, the tighter the Gozas strapped on.

  ‘Don’t zyou zink zwe should zsave zem znow Azor? Zey are going to drown, oui,’ Gallica asked, displaying an ounce of almost genuine concern.

  ‘Just a little longer,’ Azor replied, curiously peering through the water with wicked content. ‘Naughty schoolboys need to learn a lesson or two, don’t you think?’

  ‘They are going to die my dear, we must save them,’ Madonna insisted, with a touch of urgency in her voice. ‘We still have a use for them, remember?’

  ‘Okay, if we must,’ Azor sighed, folding her arms in disappointment.

  The four fairies shot through the water hurtling down towards the river bed. Gallica and Azor grabbed Philip by his arms, one on either side, and yanked him forcefully to the surface. Philip was already starting to lose consciousness and wasn’t really aware of what was happening. The flower fairies were seen as gods on planet Floran, and once the Goza weeds were aware of their presence, they fearfully released the boys in haste. Madonna and Paulina hauled Frank out of the water in seconds, with a magical display of strength.