After a long time of nothingness, here comes the first snippet from my latest work. I would like you all to read it and let me know what you think of it.
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He Who Cares
"Look, that spider has only seven legs. Poor little spider. Who would rip off a leg from a small little spider?"
I had taken her for another walk through the park in the centre of the settlement which she always enjoyed. We had been there many times, and every time she had discovered something new, something that didn't strike me as very important or exciting – but for her each discovery had been the most important thing in the universe.
"Who would do such a bad thing?"
This time a missing leg on a spider had caught her attention. Only last week it had been an open window in the building across the street, which had been open for three days in a row – or so she had told me. Another time there had been a car that was parked on the wrong side of the street.
"Oh I don't know. Maybe the spider was born with only seven legs," I said.
I knew that I was not exactly telling the truth. I should have told her that the spider had probably been attacked by a bird and had swapped its leg for its life, but I thought that would have upset her. She didn't think bird could be cruel. For her they were all very nice and loveable creatures, just as all the other animals. In fact, in her opinion the whole universe was a nice and worry-free place.
"Poor spider," she said and started to run ahead. She seemed to have been satisfied by my explanation and had already found something else that interested her more than the seven-legged spider.
I looked down to find the little spider, but it wasn't there. It had probably run away into the bushes to build another web to catch flies and eat them – another thing that did not exist in Jenny’s worry-free universe. It wasn't that she would say eating was wrong – no, quite the contrary. She loved to put a lot of things in her mouth and eat them, if possible. It was only that she didn't realise that her meal had to be killed first – or at least she didn't want to think about that.
I continued walking and followed Jenny. She had already crossed quite a way through the park and was now sitting at the small lake in the centre of the park dome. When she heard me coming she turned around and asked: "May I catch some water fleas?"
"Yes, of course, if you like. Only take your shoes off first please, sweetheart. We don't want you to be walking home in soggy shoes, do we?"
"No. That wouldn't be nice." She pointed her feet into the air and said: "You do it." Then she looked at me with one of her cheeky, irresistible smiles.
I stepped closer and knelt beside her. She was wearing her lovely white sneakers which she always tied in a double bow that was very hard to undo. I gave her a look to show that I wasn't terribly pleased with her tying her shoes like that. She looked back at me in such a way that showed she was sorry.
"Well, off you go then, darling," I said after I had finally untied the knot and taken off her shoes and socks.
She got up and carefully stepped into the water to go on her exploration. She was always looking for pond life that she hadn't seen before. Whenever she spotted something, she dipped one hand into the water to try and catch whatever it was and carry it to me in her palms for inspection. She was always very excited to know what she had found this time.
She really loved the place.
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