What if you said banana?

“I am nothing,” said Grime.  “Absolutely nothing.  If anything, I am a machine.  I have no rights, because I need no rights.  When I’m done with my job for the day, I am nothing.  I have no purpose and I shouldn’t go searching for one either.  I am a human.”

            “Good,” said Muzzle the Mouth.  “Now report to your dorm at once.”

            “Yes, your highness.”  Why would he say any different? That’s all Grime was used to saying, so why speak any differently?  Well, I suppose he was a bit different than the other humans.  Grime was very special in that he had small blue spots that were forming on his arm.  Of course, any other human would shriek at the sight of any strange spots that appeared on their skin.  Why, little Dusty was even scared of his own birthmark!  But, and this is not the last time you’ll hear it in this tale, Grime was not like the other humans.  Of course he may seem humanly on the top of your page, reciting the Code of the Humans, but that’s all he had learned.  He had recited it exactly 723 times to Muzzle the Mouth, and he knows that because he had counted.  Grime gave himself a purpose, “count how many times you’ve recited the Code of the Humans”.  Most humans wouldn’t even dare do that, because maybe Cornea the Eyes would catch them thinking.  Humans could not, should not, and would not think.  But of course, Cornea could only see inside human’s minds and like I said before, Grime was not like the other humans.

            “Ahoy,” said Grime as he walked in his home and oh, what a home it was.  His family was very proper in comparison with the other humans who mostly live like hermits, moving from place to place.  Why, the Sordidum family was even lucky enough to have windows.  One time, when Grime was only five years old, he made curtains out of sheepskin.  He was almost immediately taken aside by Muzzle and given forty lashes.

            “Grime,” said Filth, his brother. “What do you mean when you say ahoy?”

            “I’m greeting you,” Grime said simply.

            “You say it every day,” said Filth. “You walk into our home, you say ahoy, and then you sit with me for three hours until it is time to eat.”

            “I’m just greeting you,” said Grime.

            “It is always the same though,” Filth thought for a moment, a dangerous thing to do.  “What if you were to say salutations instead?”

            “Filth, you need to stop before you get hurt.”

            “What if, maybe, you said hello? Or what if, and this is my favorite, you said goodbye? “

            Grime shook his head, “Filth, you know I can’t do that.” He sat down beside him. “You better stop with all of this thinking or you might get the whip again.”

            “What if you said banana? Wouldn’t that be funny!” shouted Filth.

            The door burst open, and Muzzle the Mouth barged in.  He looked just as angry as ever, in his full armor.  He grabbed Filth and dragged him out the door in three seconds flat.  Grime had seen him pull Filth out the door faster than that, he knows because he always timed it.  It was another purpose he gave himself, “to count how fast Muzzle drags Filth out of the house”.  Grime felt sorry for Filth, but he also felt thankful that he could think whatever he wanted and not get beaten for it.

            Maybe I should give you a bit of background on the family which controls most human tribes?  Properly, they are The Kinsfolk of Despot-Hominid, but no one calls their kind Hominids.  They’re more commonly known as Bluemen because of their blue skin.  Not all Bluemen are bad, in fact there are some rather nice ones out there.  But because the Despot-Hominids are royalty, they have all the power.  Most nice Hominids have been exiled including one of Encephalon the Brain, the leader of the Despot’s, own son.  Yes, Proboscis the Snout was a little too keen on the idea of freedom, and that ultimately led him to be stripped of his royalty and thrown out into a gutter somewhere or another.

            Though Grime was far from being a Blueman, at least he thought, he would soon realize he and Proboscis are very much the same.  But, for now, Grime would go on with his life.  He works every day and sleeps every night, then the next day he repeats the process.  He also hadn’t realized that in exactly one year later, everything about his life would change.

Author's Note

The first few chapters WILL be short, though I think my point will still get through.