Shootik by Aleksya Sokol

Author:Aleksya Sokol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Ninth Picture

It was unusual, even for Staretz, who had seen Shootik appearing in all sorts of ways, to see him this time coming in quite a normal way, by opening the door and closing it carefully behind him. His appearance was that of a teenage boy and the look on his face was rather stern.

“I’ve been away,” he said, taking a seat on a chair and crossing his legs.

“I’ve noticed,” the Old Man replied, surprised, since Shootik never gave information without having been asked for it. A silence fell, like a bridge yet to be built between them…then Shootik asked:

“How is it to be human?”

"It is…like being on the move, on a river, having to go on and on, without knowing where this river might take you, or how long the journey might last.

“A human is not a ready-made product. The human…the whole of humanity is in the process of becoming. It is like a seed which is growing, developing its potential. It holds within it all that it can be, like a seed of a tree which contains all the information it needs to become another tree, except that in the case of the human, the kind of ‘tree’ he might become is an open question…”

Staretz didn’t quite like the question, but it was part of his duties to answer it. How much could his young friend take at the moment, and what had prompted this particular question? He had been away for quite a long time…too long spent among humans?

“Go on, tell me more. Tell me about yourself. How was it when you were among them?”

The Old Man sighed. Of course, it had to come one day, this question. There was no escape from it. Besides…escape-manoeuvres never took one far, didn’t he know that?

“It is a long story, my son…” he started, clearing his throat, “tell me when you’ve had enough and want me to stop. Besides…it’s a dangerous story, you know…”

“I know.”

"It all started with the river flowing past the edge of the village where I was born. I must have been…(he glanced at the teenage-boy-looking Shootik)…the age you appear to be now…and I was very curious! We were instructed by the elders of our village, who were our tutors, that’s how it was at that time. They were our teachers, so to speak, whom we had to obey when they told us not to approach the riverbanks. The river was not to be trusted, we were told. But I was…(Staretz smiled)…like you, you see! I wouldn’t have anybody telling me what to do. I had to find it out by myself, so I went in secret to the banks and listened to the river…

“In the beginning I heard nothing special. It just rushed through my ears, but this rushing gradually silenced the teachings I had received, and then I started to ask questions.”

“Questioning the river?”

“Yes. Like, where do you come from and where do you go? And…why do they tell us that you are dangerous?”

“Did the river answer these questions?”

“Not directly and not at once.

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