Stray Humans

By J. L. Thurston

THIS IS THE RECORD OF THE FALL OF THE ONES WE CALL GIANTS. I am Word Song, whose captive name was Cupcake.

For me, it all began one day with containers and a large transporting vehicle. I waited in the warm spot on the window and watched as all around me my Giants, who had spent days putting everything they owned into containers, worked to place all the containers and all their furniture into the large vehicle that waited outside. I was nervous, and afraid, because I heard words like “moving out,” and “new place.” I have only ever been to a couple of new places, and most of them were unpleasant. Uncertain as I was, I waited in the open space for my Giants to put me in the vehicle with the rest of their things.

At long last, the oldest Giant, the Leader known as Dad, lifted me up from the window and carried me. I am not small for my kind but I am barely longer than Dad’s forearm. I was scared to be outside, but I was even more afraid because the rest of the Giants were inside the vehicle. The youngest one was staring out the window and crying. He was the sweetest of all the Giants. I loved him then, and even to this day, despite what I know.

Shockingly, I was placed on the ground outside. Outside! This had never happened before. My fear washed away and I was overwhelmed by the feel of grass, the way the light touched my skin. I stretched out into the dirt, face down, and breathed as though I’d never breathed before.

When I looked up, the vehicle was driving away with my Giants inside, the little one staring out the window until they were out of sight.

That was a dark time for me. I spent days, maybe even weeks, outside my home. It was all I knew. But I couldn’t reach the door handle, and with the removal of my thumbs, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to manage it without a Giant to help me.

Everything was scary. I wasn’t the only creature outside. Especially at night. Things flew in the sky, swooping from tree branch to tree branch. I know now they were birds, and I had watched them constantly from the safety of my favorite window, but when I was a stranger in their territory I felt they would swoop down at any second and peck out my eyes.

A Giant approached me once. A stranger. He made kissy noises at me, just like my own Giants used to. But I panicked. I wanted to wait for my family to return. I didn’t want this stranger to steal me away; I knew I’d never see them again.

It was many hungry days and many sleepless nights before they found me. Or did I find them? The details are still blurry. What I can remember is seeing people watch me from beneath a house down the street. I was too tired to be afraid, and curiosity sparked in me. I don’t remember going to them, but I remember finding a bowl of food outside the hole beneath the porch. Greedily, I ate scraps of meat and felt full for the first time since my Giants left me.

“Hello, stray human,” came a greeting. I jumped but did not run away. I was too tired.

“Hello?”

A tall human came out from beneath the porch. He was filthy and smelled sharply of many things. His body was hard with muscle. He had the lean, wild look of a human who had always lived outside. He took me with him and I met his clan. There were five of them living beneath that house.

The tall human was called Strong Tree, because he was the leader and though he was old, he was mighty and brave. His daughter was with him, named Loving Eyes. She was kind to me, and spent time pulling tangles out of my hair. There was another former house-human, like me, with cut off thumbs. She had a scar across her abdomen where she’d been fixed. They called her Voyager because she chose to leave her Giants.

Saddest of all were Rain Eyes and Silent Sorrow. They were a mated couple who had been used by breeder Giants. They made humans and were forced to give them away so their Giants could make money. Silent Sorrow refused to speak. Strong Tree told me it was because his heart was far too broken for words. Rain Eyes spoke often, describing every birth, every infant. Once, she’d had twins. She and Silent Sorrow had hoped their Giants would let them keep one, but it never came to be. Now they were too old to make any more children, and their Giants left them in a park.

Out of curiosity, loneliness, and hunger, I stayed with them. The strays were the first humans I’d interacted with since I was young and taken away from my mother. They found me interesting. I had spent many hours of my time with the Giants while they watched television, and so I had developed a vast and colorful language the strays found delightful. That is why they renamed me Word Song, because I could make a conversation sound like music.

I have been with the strays for a year now. I’ve grown leaner but stronger. I stay away from Giants, though admittedly I still miss the little one. I know he truly loved me. But I’ve become aware of the atrocities the Giants have imposed upon the humans. It is wrong to dismember our hands, it is wrong to stick chips in our necks and make us wear collars, to remove our reproductive organs or sell our children.

And we strays are going to do something about it. We are preparing to leave this town and travel to a city I learned about on the television. We will gather the numerous strays that lurk in the city alleys and encourage them to join us. For we are no longer strays.

We are the resistance.