FERTILE MATERIAL
Based on a Fertile Material writing
exercise from the book, Fear of Writing

ALIEN BLISS (unformatted)
by Mindy Phillips Lawrence

Note to subscribers: If you already read the
first part of this story in the eZine itself, look
for the red cue below to find your place.

All the people in the shopping center saw was the the brief rustling of the trees for no apparent reason. They didn't see the ten-foot mini-craft take a bounce into the landscaped area in front of the center's entrance and land against a Japanese yew. A small creature stepped out of the craft with a perplexed look on her face. Well, more than just perplexed. There was also a hint of frustration for the position she found herself in. She began to rave out loud unheard by anyone except the wind spirits. "GREAT! Just great! Here I am stuck on this Goddess forsaken planet with my tank empty. I BEGGED Nemonööstis to use the non-gas model spacecraft but OH NO! He wouldn't listen to a woman! He had to take the BOYS out for Solar Night at the club in the state-of-the-art spacecraft. Now I have to page him with the little juice left in my Galactic phone." She opened her silver space jacket with the velcro-like closures and took out an odd handheld contraption that looked like a cross between a cell phone and a CD player with a round, smoke-colored front. She held it in front of her face and looked into it. A strange beeping sound stirred the dogs in the area but no human heard a thing. "Hey, Nemo. This is Gwöörk. I'm STUCK on EARTH. What am I gonna do now," she said? She could see the image of a man dressed similar to herself in the round disc. His comments weren't positive. "What? You can't get here for a WHOLE DAY? What am I supposed to do? GODDESS! Ok. I will explore. Maybe I can find something interesting enough to bring back to Karerion. You owe me when I get back there, Nemo." She clicked a small button and the man's image disappeared. She looked around the area where she had landed. "Sigh. Stuck! I'll take a walk and see what these lower creatures are up to." As she walked, Gwöörk saw something near a large metal container at the back of the Hunt and Peck Business and Electronic Shop. She walked closer and bent down to look at the object again. "What's this? HA! An old 2000 version camcorder! Whatta relic! Looks like one of those cheap Earth versions at that." She almost laughed at the ancient monstrosity. "Hum. No directions. Wonder if the if the "father" works." She picked it up, put the viewer to her eye and clicked the button. She could hear a low hum. "WOW! It does works! I can have all sorts of fun with this. What can I shoot to take back home and laugh at!" She looked around and decided to point the camera at all the living plants and creatures. She shot a dog. She shot a tree. She swung the lens around and captured the flow of traffic down the highway. She saw a group of young boys on boards with wheels. They put their feet on the board and accelerated down the hill. "Almost looks like fun," she said. She shot an old lady gathering cans from the dumpster at the back of the shopping center. She watched as she gathered the treasures into one of the plastic bags she carried on her arm. Gwöörk was perplexed wondering why cans were so valued among the elderly seers of the Earth. She wanted to ask why but knew the woman couldn't see or hear her. Gwöörk followed her. The old lady went behind another store at the mall and gathered other cans. Gwöörk noticed they were always made of old-style aluminum. The woman carried the filled sacks on her left arm and the empty sacks on her right arm. Her worn clothing had pockets where other cans might fit but she chose not to put any there. She saved the pockets for shiny things she found that attracted her, things that came from the top of the cans. Gwöörk noticed she had a long strand of these linked together around her neck as an ornament. The camcorder was getting heavy. It certainly wasn't one of the smaller, lighter models used on Karerion. Although it was not easy, Gwöörk stayed with the woman while noticing other things along the way - like odd-looking two wheeled vehicles that made a very loud noise and carried one person along the road very fast, or the huge, fancy signs along the road that changed photos from time to time going through a cycle back to the original picture, usually showing shots of food or businesses. But, the main thought in Gwöörk's mind was why an Elder such as the one she was following had been sent to gather cans as a prize for service. Surely this was a reward or initiation of some sort. Subscribers continue here: The woman turned down a side street, opened a dilapidated gate and entered into a yard filled with overgrown grass and uncared-for plants. Gwöörk decided she was taking her offering to a lesser being and would soon come out from the house. She waited for the woman to come out and go to her fine house but she never left. Gwöörk turned the camcorder on and took pictures of the house, the yard, the gate and the surrounding area. Later that evening, the old lady came out only with bags filled with cans. She opened the gate and walked down the street the opposite direction from the way she had before. About a block away, she turned into a business with thousands of cans in many large bins. Gwöörk followed recording everything with her camcorder. She saw the old woman take the cans to a man and saw the man give her green paper and shiny round coins in exchange for all the filled sacks. The woman looked content. Gwöörk kept recording. The old woman left the business and walked several blocks down to a store. She came out with more plastic sacks of the same kind she had but filled with different cans, bottles, and vegetables. There was also a loaf of soft, white bread, the kind that Karerions had learned was bad for living beings yet the woman seemed happy to have it. Gwöörk knew that only the most poor would eat such food. She followed the woman back to the dilapidated house and watched her enter with her bags and close the door. Perplexed, Gwöörk turned off the camcorder, took it in her hand and retraced her steps back to her landing position. She climbed in her spacecraft and fastened herself into the upright resting net but was unable to sleep. She kept thinking about the old woman and the cans. The next day, the trees rustled again. Another spacecraft, fancy and streamlined, landed with precision next to Gwöörk's out-of-gas model. A male figure a little taller than Gwöörk stepped out of the craft. "AH! There you are, Nemo! I was about to give up on you. I didn't sleep well." "That's not my fault," he said. "You should remember to fill up both tanks on your craft next time." Gwöörk grimaced. "Nemo. I found this old camcorder yesterday and it still works! While I was playing with it, I saw the oddest thing. An Elder of the Earth was gathering cans from dumpsters and selling them for groceries. Doesn't that seem a strange way to honor the ancient ones?" Nemo thought about his previous trips to Earth. "Earth people do not honor their elderkind as we do on Karerion. They often have little when they become unable to contribute for themselves." "But," said Gwöörk, "have they not already contributed for their entire lives?" "Yes, but the young don't necessarily celebrate those contributions." Gwöörk pondered this thought. Elders unhonored. Elders left to lead second-class lives after all their contributions. "Are all Elders like this woman?" "No," Nemo said. "Many are well-off but only because of their own ability to plan for the time when they will cease to be useful tools." "Sad," Gwöörk said. Nemo agreed. He aided Gwöörk in the refueling of her spacecraft and in the takeoff. They flew in perfect formation back to Karerion. A week later the leaves rustled in front of the old woman's house even though there was no wind. Gwöörk stepped out of her state-of-the-art spacecraft and delivered sacks and sacks of the best cans she could find to the woman's front lawn. By the door, she left the old camcorder with a note. "Elder of the Earth. Please accept this offering of cans. I observed your fine collection efforts last week. If you look at the tape in the camcorder, you will find a greeting from the planet Karerion for you to play back. You are now an honorary Elder of Karerion and an honored member of our society. BLESSINGS, Gwöörk Kantorias. The woman found the gifts and was amazed. She showed them to a friend who contacted the local newspaper. The paper ran the video. The elderly woman became famous and donations poured in - not cans but money. Soon she was able to move to a small, new home and the people in her community watched after her until she slept in the Earth. ~END~

MINDY PHILLIPS LAWRENCE is a Missouri writer (she says "SHOW ME" a lot) from a small town southwest of St. Louis. She has written for St. Louis Events Magazine (about golf, which she doesn't play) and for Making the Run Yahoo Group on business-related topics.

FERTILE MATERIAL SUBMISSIONS
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