by Esther David
Hudhud looked at Captain, his face crumpled in horror. ‘You mean all those whales were made to sleep forever?’
Captain nodded.
‘What’s a whaler? Is that what the monster … Ship … is called?’
‘No, it’s not the monster that is evil.’ Captain swayed his banded body. ‘It is the one who controls it. Human. That is the evil one. It’s a small creature of the land who rides Ship. That one is the real monster of the seas.’
Hudhud shuddered. ‘Why isn’t Momsie answering my calls, Captain? She’d said we can talk even if we are hundreds of kilometres apart. Is she … sleeping f-forever?’
Captain did not answer, and so Hudhud surfaced again for a breath and dived down. A few sea turtles swam by their side. ‘Did you see those …?’ Hudhud turned to Captain and saw that he was changing colour! The dark-coloured bars on his back were disappearing and his body was turning a silvery white. Now three blue patches appeared on his back.
‘Magic!’ Hudhud whispered, stopping to study him closely.
But Captain swam ahead of Hudhud at full speed, joining four other pilot fish whose banded silver bodies sparkled in the slanting beams of the evening sun. Behind them, a large white creature loomed into view. The fish, only slightly smaller than Hudhud, had a light-grey body, a white belly and a robust snout. What stood out were rows of serrated teeth in its smiling jaws and a straight fin on its back.
‘Madame Great White, here’s your meal,’ said Captain as the two other pilot fish started nibbling on some leftovers stuck in the fearsome fish’s mouth.
‘Good job, Captain. What a clever idea to lead the lost calf to me.’ Her voice was rippling like waves. ‘And I thought we’d lost you to the monster Ship.’
Captain’s bands reappeared on his back as he dipped his head. ‘Thank you, madame. Always at your service.’
Hudhud cringed when the toothy fish smiled at him.
‘Madame … er, you have such cool … um … sharp teeth …’ Hudhud drawled.
‘What is a shark without cool sharp teeth, eh?’ Great White shook her head. The two pilot fish quickly swam away from her teeth. And they’ll soon be digging into you!‘
‘Captain …?’ Hudhud called weakly as the shark began to advance towards him. ‘Sh-shouldn’t we r-rrun?’
‘Nowhere to go, kiddo,’ Captain replied tersely. ‘As certain as high tide, your mother is dead. Else she would have answered your calls by now. You will die without her milk anyway. But imagine the good turn you’ll do by feeding hungry chaps like us for months!’
‘But, Captain, you were helping me … Momsie can’t be dea—’
The shark lunged ahead, her mouth open.
‘Momsie!’ Hudhud cried, turning and swimming away as fast as he could. The currents did not favour his flight. Tired and hungry, he couldn’t swim at top speed and felt the shark gaining on him, the five pilot fish cheering her on from a distance.
Right ahead, Hudhud’s path was suddenly obstructed by three sea turtles, and he wheeled around desperately to avoid them. Great White turned too and sprang forward, slicing through the water. The turtles scattered on seeing the shark in hot pursuit and swam away in different directions. The sun had set and the underwater world was turning even darker.
‘MOMSIE!’ Hudhud called one last time as he felt the shark almost upon him.
Just then, a huge wave hit him and he toppled over. Before he could straighten up, another wave crashed into him, and Hudhud saw the giant form of a blue whale swatting Madame Great White with its tail.
The shark went tumbling backwards in the water, jaws up. She gathered her wits, turned around to look in the direction of the blue giant and plunged away, shouting, ‘Captain, you fool!’ The school of pilot fish swam after her, not even casting a glance at the adult blue whale.
Hudhud waited behind the whale that had rescued him, not sure who it was. His saviour slowly turned towards him as the shark vanished into the distance. The whale calf could have jumped with joy if he was not short of breath.
‘Momsie! Momsie! Momsie!’
‘Come to the surface and breathe,’ Momsie commanded as she rose up, spouting a tall fountain of water from her blowhole.
Hudhud followed, breathing deeply. ‘Captain said you were dead!’ He huddled close to her as she swam. ‘Why didn’t you answer my calls all this while? Why, Momsie, why?’
‘Oh, my little Hudhud, that passing Ship had knocked me out at first! When I finally came around and swam up to breathe, I couldn’t remember anything. I was just swimming around listlessly. It was only moments ago, when I heard your voice, that it all came back to me.’
‘And you made Madame Great White and Captain run away!’ Hudhud tittered nervously. It felt so good and safe to be with Momsie again.
‘That was so close! Had I not come in time …’ Momsie turned away, sickened. ‘Here, baby, have your milk. You look starved.’
Hudhud happily began to suckle his mother’s milk.
‘Yes, no white shark …’ He looked up and saw an almost full white moon hanging in the night sky. ‘… is milkier than the moon,’ he mumbled tiredly between gulps. ‘Young Bob says hi, Moon.’
A blissful lull enveloped him as he swam with Momsie in the night sea.
‘Answer …’ he muttered suddenly. ‘Someone told me to look for an answer. Is it … is the answer girl power?’
The moon seemed to split into a smile. Hudhud’s eyes closed shut and everything went dark around him, like the deep black waters of the night ocean.
2
With Flying Colours
‘Owwww!’ Hudhud the caterpillar yelped, rubbing his backside on a branch as a spider pulled a fine thorn out of his heinie. Warm wind gusted around the nettle plant. The spider had landed near him from nowhere.
‘You are a lifesaver, Mister …?’ Hudhud stopped mid-sentence.
‘Doctor. Dr Pink Floyd, dearie. But you can call me Flo.’ The spider looked at him with his six liquid black eyes, two of which were larger than the rest.
‘Thank you, Dr Flo. My friend Kilkila here is useless.’
‘Yeah, right …’ another hairy black-and-yellow caterpillar perched on a thin branch said between mouthfuls of leaves. ‘I woulda … elped you if … I had hands instead of aw … these … legs! When I started to pull it with my mouth, you lost your marbles as if I were stabbing your bum on purpose!’
‘Good thing you didn’t lose your mind, Kilkila.’ Hudhud bristled. ‘Coz you don’t have one.’
‘Whoa … peace, shape-shifters!’ Dr Flo raised two of his eight legs. ‘What are surgeons for, anyway? A surgeon by skill, not education. We don’t need no education …’ He swung his fat abdomen to the rhythm of the song.
‘Are you a … surgeon?’ Kilkila asked, his mouth still stuffed, looking at the spider in fear mixed with curiosity.
‘Resident surgeon of this area.’ The spider bent his needly legs. ‘Good business, yeah. We all live on stinging nettle plants.’
Hudhud and Kilkila glanced at the plains fringed by low hills. The prickly bushes and shrubs were all around them, full of painted lady caterpillars nibbling on their leaves. There was a herd of gazelles too, but they flocked at a distance. The bovids avoided eating the nettle leaves, which was good for the caterpillars.
Hudhud nodded at Dr Flo, who moved his pincerlike claws on his mouth as if chewing on a thought. Looking at the venomous claws, a primal fear stirred inside Hudhud. But he didn’t show any traces of alarm. After all, he was considered one of the cleverest caterpillars in this little part of the plains. He had a reputation to keep.
Kilkila, on the other hand, shuddered as he watched the spider’s mouth move. He took a few steps back on his multiple feet. ‘You are the one without a mind, Hudhud!’ Kilkila stared at the predator as he spoke in a whisper. ‘Taking help from a spider? That’s like a deer asking a croc to help him cross the river!’
‘I have a feeling this spider will help me find the answer,’ Hudhud whispered back.
‘To the question.’
‘Um, what question?’
‘I don’t remember … but I must find the answer!’
‘You sound more cracked than the nut Kernel the squirrel was working on this morning.’ Kilkila looked at Hudhud critically.
‘Come, come, shape-shifters,’ Dr Flo suddenly flashed a toothless smile, ‘I can’t eat my own clients.’
Kilkila glanced uncertainly at Hudhud and then dipped his head to bite a leaf.
‘What’s more, I’m on a liquid diet.’ The spider almost looked benign. ‘See, I have no teeth. Besides, a liquid diet is good for my skin.’
The two caterpillar friends looked at the shiny yellow spider. There was some truth in what he said, they decided.
Hudhud cleared his throat. ‘Ahem … and why the fancy name?’
‘All in all you’re just another … brick in the wall,’ the spider sang in a deep bass voice, lowering his bulging abdomen with each beat. ‘All in all you’re just another … brick in the wall.’ Dr Flo bowed with a flourish once he had finished singing. ‘Gentlemen.’
‘Sweet.’ Hudhud grinned despite the fear. ‘So your mum named you after an old rock band because you sing.’
‘Oh, yeah, Maman got a bit carried away when she heard me singing for the first time and named me after her old favourites. Back in those days, I was riding her. But if you ask me, I liked Ramcharan better than Pink Floyd. Pink? Really!’ The spider rolled all six of his eyes. ‘Anyway, my favourite punk band is Wild Whistling Wasps. They have a nest on my tree. And my, my … their performance is so … punk!’ Dr Flo was starryeyed. ‘But I can only admire them from a distance. If I go too close to them, I’ll end up being a crispy spider for their brats’ evening snack.’
Hudhud looked glum as he said, ‘Lucky that your maman named you … . Our maman and poppa both left us before we were even born.’
Kilkila nodded solemnly. Scores of painted lady butterflies, with their orange-black-white spotted wings, flitted around in the plains, but neither of the two friends knew who their maman and poppa were.
‘But that’s the way of pretty butterflies.’ Dr Flo bobbed on his hairy legs as he spoke. ‘They just lay their eggs and poof … they’re gone. Unlike some of us spiders, who take care of our young. And they say we are ugly. So much for being pretty, eh, shape-shifter?’
‘Why do you keep calling us that?’ Kilkila demanded as he chewed, spraying Hudhud with sticky spittle.
‘Aren’t you a shape-shifter? It’s pure magic. You were tiny green eggs just days back. Now you are caterpillars. Soon you’ll be a pupa … um … chrysalis, since you guys like to use the fancier word, and then, a few days later, you’ll come out as a butterfly! From a fat worm to a sleek, fashionable stunner! And no ordinary one, but the greatest travelling butterfly of the world at that!’
The frown on Hudhud’s heavily creased head softened, and he smiled. The spider was not that bad after all. ‘Continent hoppers, aren’t we? From tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle … 14,400 kilometres, no less!’
‘We even beat the famed monarch butterflies that travel between Mexico and Canada,’ Kilkila added as he chomped away. ‘But it’s hard to imagine all the flying.’ He glanced at his plump body. ‘And it must be so tiring! I’d rather eat.’ He shook his head in horror and resumed chewing.
‘Eeeek!’ Suddenly, a third caterpillar shouted from a nearby bush. ‘Run for your life, Hudhud! What are you doing chatting with a spider?’
‘That’s okay, All Legs. This one here is a surgeon. In fact, he just performed a little surgery on me.’ Hudhud indicated towards his bum.
All Legs looked at the smiling spider in terror as all the hairy caterpillars in the area stopped to hear their conversation. Without warning, Dr Flo lunged towards Hudhud and Kilkila. The other caterpillars shrieked and immediately scuttled, hiding beneath branches and under their silk tents. And before Hudhud or Kilkila could protest, they were dragged under the leaves.
Just then, the whole shrub shook violently as a flycatcher landed on it. Hudhud could see her terrifying claws and eyes searching for caterpillars. But since all of them had hidden in fear of the spider, the bird couldn’t spot any. After a long moment of holding their breath, the two friends exhaled with relief as the bird flew away.
Dr Flo’s legs clacked on the nettles as he stepped above the leaves. Even though Hudhud’s soft worm body was not used to the bristly touch of a spider, he looked at the arachnid gratefully. These legs looked safer than the claws and the beak he had just seen. ‘Thank you, Dr Flo. You just … saved our lives.’ Hudhud’s own legs felt weaker than his shed skin.
‘And all the others too,’ Kilkila added, watching the other caterpillars emerge, and then dipped his head to tear at another leaf.
The army of caterpillars started to mutter their thanks in uncertain voices.
Dr Flo waved his front legs. ‘Oh, that was nothing. I can’t be losing my clients to a hungry no-gooder, beak-dipper, flap-flapper …’
‘Yo, we get the point—’ Hudhud broke off, spotting Kilkila.
He seemed to be bursting out of his body. Soon his skin cracked as he squirmed and wriggled. Hudhud looked on as his friend shed his old skin.
‘The third one, yeah?’ Hudhud asked.
Kilkila nodded his flabby head. ‘You’re lagging behind, mate. You’ve not shed your skin the third time as yet. Just one more skin change and I’ll be ready to roll!’
‘No more wasting time with all this chit-chat.’ Hudhud bit a leaf determinedly. ‘I must keep pace. I don’t want to become a pupa after you!’
‘Hmm … I’ll get going then, shape-shifters.’ Dr Flo clattered past Hudhud, humming, ‘I. Want. To. Break free-ee. I want to breaaak … free.’ He jumped to another bush and walked past the other caterpillars. Although a few of them shifted to give him way, no one ran away from the spider.
‘And by the way,’ Dr Flo said, turning, ‘most of you are already a week old. You’ll be shedding your fourth skin and hanging by a silk thread in a day or two. Then your skin will split open, making a chrysalis around you. Inside it, you’ll turn into liquid before changing shape and emerging as a butterfly. My, will you have to push and push to get out of the pupa. A lot of work if you ask me, dearies.’
The caterpillars nodded their heads and grunted in agreement.
‘I can help you, you know. I can cut your pupae so you can easily slip out as butterflies. Just unfurl your wings and fly!’ He moved the sharp chelicerae around his mouth. ‘All I want in return is for you to donate your discarded pupae to my hospital for research.’
‘That sounds fair …’ a caterpillar near Hudhud mumbled.
‘No, no—no need to tell me now. You can think it over before registering for my services. My address is Neem Hakim Hospital, Third Crack, Branch No. Four, Bridal Broom Tree, Wild Wild Africa. Landmark: Three branches below Wild Whistling Wasps. Timings: When the sun comes up from behind Rocky Rockstar till the time it goes behind the Old Fart.’
By the next day, word about the surgeon-cum-singer yellow spider who didn’t eat caterpillars had spread in this part of the plains. And what’s more, he was going to help all the caterpillars come out of their pupae! More than half the caterpillars in the surrounding bushes had already registered with him before retiring to their silk tents the day before. Hudhud, of course, was the first to take credit for discovering their messiah.
‘No one had even heard about him, see. I was his first case!’ he said, munching on leaves.
‘We know, Hudhud, you’re the clever one. Didn’t the spider save you all from a flycatcher too?’ a pretty caterpillar asked as she crawled to another branch.
‘Oh yes, Mahua. And how! I helped him with it, of course.’ Hudhud was smirking as he stuffed his cheeks when Kilkila nudged him. ‘A-a-and Kilkila too. We decided to act along with him so that all the other caterpillars could scurry away.’
‘This is the smar
test thing I’ve heard since I came out of the egg eight days back!’ Mahua’s friend All Legs looked at Hudhud with wide eyes.
Her expression turned rigid as a gentle crackling noise floated through the air. Hudhud’s plump body was bursting out of his old skin for he had outgrown it.
‘At last! I’m catching up with you, Kila. Only one shedding to go!’
‘Ugh … This is gross.’ Mahua squirmed and looked away.
‘Don’t we all shed our skins four times before we become a pupa?’ Kilkila asked, puzzled at her reaction.
‘You do it in private, mister. Not in view of ladies.’ Mahua and All Legs turned haughtily and wriggled down the stem.
‘Any problem, shape-shifters?’ It was Dr Flo, who’d come trotting up the branch.
‘Girls, I tell you!’ Hudhud fumed.
‘Ah, that. Wait till you meet my lady love. She’s just short of having me for dinner on a date one of these days. A dinner date, see?’
Dr Flo had wrapped a silk thread around his neck and was hanging from a leaf. Hudhud chuckled at the sight and soon the spider started singing, all the while swinging and swirling from one branch to the next and swaying his abdomen.
I once met this girl
Who walked with a swirl
My eight legs turned to jelly
She’d a lovely big fat belly!
I asked her out on a date
I’d love to be her mate
A worldwide web I’d knit
Bit by bit by bit
For me, she was the one
But once the dinner was done
She wanted me for dessert
That’s no civil way to flirt!
I ran and jumped and fled
And tumbled on my head
My eight legs turned to jelly
She’d a scary big fat belly!
Hudhud and Kilkila were rolling with laughter as Dr Flo came to a halt near a butterfly perched on a flower. Instead of flying away, the butterfly clapped with her tiny feet. All the caterpillars sitting in the bushes joined in the applause and the air rang with their cheers. A fat caterpillar had such a fit of laughter that his skin began to crack and, cackling, he wriggled out of it.