The Navel Monster

Karolina Jekiełek

© Copyright by

Karolina Jekiełek & e-bookowo

Projekt okładki:

Karolina Jekiełek

ISBN 978-83-7859-438-3

Wszelkie prawa zastrzeżone.

Kopiowanie, rozpowszechnianie części lub całości

bez zgody wydawcy zabronione

Wydanie I 2013

Konwersja do epub A3M Agencja Internetowa

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Preface

How it came to life, no one knows. Even the most eminent scientists have argued how such a monster evolved.

But before it became known, it had been lonely, ownerless, dejected and always in the search of its master.

The Navel Monster is asymmetrically four-legged. It has one left leg, and three right legs, its neck is standing out so that the monster can see far. Furless and cold, it has been looking for the master, but does not know what it is searching for.

Sadly, the monster does not speak, but answers yes or no by nodding or shaking its head. It has never heard any speech, it has never heard any sound, it has just come to life.

But against all the odds, it sets off for the journey into the unknown.

And beware as you never know when or where the monster appears. It might be beneath your tree, it might be across your road, it might be anywhere, and maybe it is you who the navel monster is looking for.

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Stepping from the abyss, the newly born monster heads north. It traverses the rocky landscape unaware of the dangers that lurk around, unaware of the world, animals, people and most of all, the goal. Its inner drive inexplicably propels the monster into the search.

And so it traverses the world getting to know its wonders. The sun that shines so brightly, so beautiful, so warm. The navel monster feels the warmth on its whole body radiating from the top to the bottom.

It feels the pleasure, but as the sun prevails and continues to shine throughout the journey, it becomes daily life, and the bliss fades away. The enchantment yields to worry.

The anxiety stirs, because it is not the sun the navel monster is looking for. It must be something else, it must be something the navel monster feels it belongs to. The sun is wonderful, but it belongs to the world, to everything around. The monster feels that what it is looking for is more unique, just for it and not to be shared.

And so the monster continues the journey.

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Nights fall, days dawn. The navel monster learns the world. The rocks, the pebbles, the grass sprouts. Suddenly, a meadow emerges from the hills. How stunning it is!

The navel monster smiles broadly having learnt what mouth does when the monster feels something is good.

It strives to move more quickly, but the odds are against. Having one left leg and three right legs, it wobbles and strives to speed up. To no avail. Not knowing how to run and what running actually is, the monster inches forward.

To the monster’s amazement, the meadow unfolds its gems.

Grass, daisies, daffodils, forget-me-nots and many wildflowers. A rainbow of flowers spreads in front of the monster. Seeing so many different colours for the first time, smelling the sweet scent, the monster feels dizzy. But what a dizziness it is!

Awe and joy. It must be good. The monster feels it. The grass and the flowers dab the monster. The meadow is so soft. And then, the monster jumps into the greenery rolling in the meadow, taking pleasure in feeling every blade of grass and every petal of a flower. Absorbing the bliss, the monster fills up with a new experience, ‘Ah, so nice,’ it must think.

After a few minutes, the monster stretches its left leg, then the right one, the righter, and the rightest to have the balance. It shakes off as if the greenery started to prickle the monster’s delicate skin.

Standing firmly, it looks around. The stirring has begun. The meadow is good, the flowers are beautiful, their scents are pleasant, but they are not what the monster has been looking for.

Where might it be? Is it anywhere here? And so the monster peers curiously around.

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And then it sees a strange, tiny creature moving around a flower. The monster approaches the flower cautiously, yet happily as IT might be the very thing the monster has been looking for. The monster peers and gawps listening to the buzz the tiny creature makes.

The bee, which is the very insect the monster is looking at, stops flying and looks curiously at the monster too.

And so they gape.

Then the monster comes closer wanting to touch the insect with its leg or head, but as the bee does not know the monster and fears it, its sting protrudes.

Fortunately, as the monster has nearly touched the sharp object, it runs away in panic. ‘What is that?’ might the monster wonder, ‘That’s bad, that’s very bad.’ and so the monster runs until it bumps into a blueberry bush.

It smells so nice, the little round balls look so tasty. The monster smiles and touches the ball (that’s a blueberry, but as it is new to the monster, it does not know the words to name it, so please forgive the monster) and tastes one, and then another one, and one more, and a few more.

‘Scrummy,’ it must surely think.

Having eaten a dozen of berries, the monster continues its journey and the search of the unknown.

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The monster is walking down the hill. It looks around and is wowed by all the wonders of the world. The trees, the wildflowers, the bushes and shrubs. There are so many wonderful plants around. The monster feels joyful. It is all captivating, but there is something out in this beautiful world that the navel monster must find!

The monster is strolling pleasantly down the hill and then... on its way down, the monster hears very odd noises. They are deafening and are growing louder.

‘Oh what a horrible noise it is!’ must the monster think.

In a split of a second, the monster dashes for the nearest bush, jumps into a clump and awaits.

The fear, a very bad feeling, starts to overtake the monster. Oh, what a bad feeling it is. So unpleasant it is!

The monster was scared when it approached the bee, but at least it saw the danger and the buzzing was not as loud as THIS horrible sound is.

Shaking and trembling while awaiting what it might be, the monster sees silhouettes emerging from the mountainous path.

‘What are they?’ the monster wonders and contorts its head; up it cranes, down, leftwards, rightwards, but to no avail.

As monsters do not really exist in our human world, we tend to think everything creepy is monstrous. However, in the monster’s world everything that is human is odd and what the monster sees is exactly a handful of people. If I were anywhere near the monster, I would tell it, ‘They are probably parents and kids,’ but as a narrator, there is little I can do.

I may watch the monster and account for what it does.

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Karolina Jekielek is a published English teacher, an owner of a private language institute Home Tutor. She publishes articles for Oxford Magazine on digital teaching, literacy, creativity, and XXI century skills. Karolina Jekielek is an ardent supporter of personalizing and individualizing teaching. Her writing career began in 2012 when she published her first book for English teachers. Then, she decided to meet the demands of her students, who demanded simplified readings.