"The Last"

Today, we finished our last day of writing workshop. We read a short story called Whitefoot, which was about a mouse and her ablity to survive. From that, it inspired us to right a short story about the creature of our choosing. Our requirments were to write a short story that was one page long, had a beginning-middle-end, and focused on personifingy the animal. Here is my short story:

The Tale of Jerry

By: Edward Love II

Deep in the wildlife of Madagascar, a phantom lurks. This creature represents his name to the fullest. A “ghostly specter” they call him. He leaps between tree to tree to chomp on the sweet nectar of the many fruits of the forest. As he tans in the sun, his eyes glistens off the yellow star causing them to fill with pure gold. His tail waves to the sky, while sporting the pattern of black and white rings. Due to this pattern, he gets his earthly name: Ring tailed Lemur, but he has a different name that can only be decoded by another brother lemur. Specialists tried to make sense of his true lemur name yet couldn’t crack the code, so they named him—Jerry.

Dear Jerry had only mission to complete and that was to survive and have a family. During mating season, he tried to impress the lady lemurs with his impressive, stated by himself, tree climbing skills. He did this by climbing to the highest tree and snatching the most precious grapefruit. He descended back down to earth and presented his prize, yet this didn’t impress the ladies due to how most of them like the lemurs with the best jumping abilities. Jerry fell into an almost depressive like state. Then all of sudden a lemur, know to humans by the name of Tommie, leaped towards Jerry. Tom, for short, kissed Jerry on his furry cheek and took the grapefruit as a token of her gratitude. Jerry leaped for excitement because he knew he completed part of his mission, which was to find a mate.

A few months past, and Tom and Jerry had two infant lemurs by the names of: Tina and Jeremy. Jerry constantly watched over his family and protected them and for years they were peaceful, until one fatal day. Hunters rampaged through the jungle looking for anything to complete their exotic carpet. This carpet contained pets of many pelts of different Madagascan and African creatures, including: lions, zebras, gazelles, etc. The Hunters spotted Tom carrying Tina and Jeremy on her back. They aimed and—BANG! The smell of gunpowder consumed the forest with a sense of urgency. Then a painful shrieked echoed and ringed in the ear canal of Jerry.

Jerry raced backed home. Zigzagging between trees and swinging on vines as the primate version of Tarzan. When he reached his destination the aura of death was very present. He cradled the lifeless body of his wife and twin children. It filled him with rage that burned the tips of his whiskers. A sudden crash of leafs rung through the forest. Jerry knew he had to move before the hunters reached him. He zoomed through the jungle; dodging trees, swinging on vines, and leaping through the air. He still couldn’t lose the hunters since they were on this metal shuttle that navigated the jungle on 4 black gigantic circles. He knew that the only way to escape his ultimate doom was to climb. Jerry leaped on the bark of the nearest tree and scurried up its bark, yet he still ran into difficulties. It had recently rained and the bark was as slippery as ever. Must Climb! Must Climb! He kept repeating this same chant over and over inside his head. He finally could feel a small spotlight of warmth laminating his ringed tail through the canopy. Finally! He thought as he scaled the last bit of the tree. The Hunters were in a state of confusion as they couldn’t tell where the small lemur had gone in such a short amount of time, so they loaded up their jeep and rolled away.

Jerry knew he was safe and in a secure place. He soon realized that the tree he was in was the same tree that he ascended to get the grapefruit for Tommie. Then a blanket of sorrow and grieve covered his soul. Still he had a small glint of joy. Because he realized that even though his lovely mate and young children were slaughtered by the likes of evil men; he still completed his mission, which was to raise a family and ultimately to survive.