Showdown

Corwyn Green

(1998)

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Ilustrace: Markéta Vydrová

Amophiss faced first one sun then the other as he paced back and forth on his perch, restlessly flapping his wings. He wished he could simply take off and fly, but even he, the ruler of the scarlet *acks, must obey the traffic control laws and fly only in the appointed time. He realized that he didn't really have a choice to make: the fish would have to go. His best scientists assured him that it was probably possible to live under water with proper equipment, maybe even possible to fly after a fashion. Sure, fish were good for a snack, but he's seen too many young *acks pushed out of the air by the masses of bigger and stronger adults on their maiden flight, their small bodies driven into the ground never to rise again. Yes, the fish would have to go so that the water may be open for colonization by the *acks.

Amophiss announced his decision, and immediately his subjects began pouring poison into the waters of the world. The fish probably didn't have enough brains to know the difference between life and death anyway, Amophiss told himself, so they wouldn't mind.

Amosuf knew there was a sun up there. Legend told that there were even two suns. But the sea was always dark because of those accursed birds. Amosuf didn't believe the mad scientist who insisted artificial bird wings could be constructed and that Iriks can learn to live above water. But the voting public believed that, and Amosuf's won his election by promising to get rid of the birds. At the very least, getting rid of the birds would ensure that the young and small, who were often pushed above the surface by the teeming crowds, wouldn't get immediately eaten by those birds. It was not right that a creature of lesser intelligence would live at the expense of its better, Amosuf reasoned, and gave the order to launch the poison-filled rockets that were placed everywhere that land met water.

Amophiss preened anxiously, and wished he could see through the crowd of his subjects, but he was used to the results of his actions being brought to him second hand.

Amosuf could barely keep his tentacles still with anticipation. He hoped the dead birds wouldn't float but sink through the water so that he may watch this event, that could never happen again.

Amophiss became sleepy, so, in the custom of all birds in the galaxy, he put his head under a wing and fell asleep. He never woke up.

Amosuf died in a second of horrible agony.

A checkered egg pulsated for a moment, burst open and a baby emerged. It cried for a while, then started putting things in its mouth, and found something it could eat. It never knew that it was eating the bodies of its parents. It would never know what its parents knew: what an atom was, or electricity, or how to read, or how to speak. It would grow up happy.

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Okruhy slovní zásoby: Showdown

Autorka ilustrací:
Markéta Vydrová, výtvarnice. Zabývá se různými odvětvími výtvarné činnosti. Ilustruje knihy, především ty pro děti a mládež, maluje nejrůznější obrazy přímo na omítku zdí podle přání a také se živí batikou a malováním na oděvy. Více informací...