Cra-King

It was nearly midnight when the moon came out again, the first full moon after that afternoon when the terrible event of which I have spoken had happened. I was dozing on a chair by my bed, but it had been a long day, so I awoke suddenly at its glimmering, blood-red light. Then the memory of what had come over me returned. For an instant my heart quailed, for the red moon seemed somehow more threatening than ever before; then with a shudder I made myself smile and go back to sleep. But when I woke up again, the sun was shining, the morning wind brought a fine rain, and it was all forgotten.
 The first thing I did was to go downstairs, wash my face, shave, and eat breakfast. It seemed like years since I had tasted food, and even more so since I had slept in an untidy chair by the bed, in a room smelling of smoke and old ashes; for there had been no time to clean up yesterday. My uncle had not bothered himself to see whether I was all right, for he didn't know how to read, write, or cipher. The whole family was too proud for that, and anyway, Uncle John was the head of it, while I was merely his nephew. He was always ordering me about, and I was afraid of him; but as I looked at him now, in his flannel shirt and blue trousers, his unshaven face, his dirty hair, and his filthy hands, I knew he wasn't such a bad man after all, though still a poor one. His life was all drudgery and hopelessness; yet he took pride in it, because it was all he knew how to do; and he had enough to keep body and soul together—for a while.
 He was sitting on the porch when I came out of the house, smoking a pipe and staring down the street. He turned at once when he saw me, but said nothing until we were seated side by side. "You're up early," he remarked, looking down the street.
 "It's been a busy day."
 "It'll be even busier than you think," he answered. Then he went on, "You say your uncle gave you permission to tell what happened?"
 I nodded, and he continued, "Then you'd better not omit any part of it. It will interest people, but they won't believe it unless you're frank about it."
 "I've never been very good at telling things," I admitted.
 "That doesn't matter," he answered. "We have to make up for that by our honesty. Go ahead! We can only do our best—and the rest is up to the world and time."
—An invitation from J. D., 1930
Category:Earth X Resident
Category:Deri's Creations