The Cage - Chapter Eight

John had been stuck in the hold of that ship for hours. He had already thrown up twice. No one had given him any attention and he was starting to become hungry again. He had tried to think of another place to be, hoping that the cage would change his location but nothing he thought of happened. He could tell he was being punished and that the point was that if he didn’t behave he would be punished again.

After a few more hours, he saw a person. It was the woman who visited him earlier. She walked around him like she was examining him and after a few moments more she spoke.

“I see you met my father.” She said this in a matter of fact like manner. “I can also see that he wanted to teach you a lesson.” She paused for another moment. “So tell me did you learn anything?”

John wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. He thought for another moment but didn’t wait too long to answer. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. I really didn’t mean to.” John tried to sound like he meant what he said. He had a lot of time to think about his situation and the truth was that he felt humiliated to think that he was the equivalent of the family dog.

The woman smiled. “You’re forgiven.” She said and immediately the scene changed back to the house where he first woke up. “Now to make it up to me, take me somewhere fun”. John realized that this was not a request but that this was an order.

The first thing John thought of was an amusement park full of people. Soon after he thought about it John and the woman were standing on a boardwalk. There were different sort of games that went up and down the boardwalk along with various rides.

“This is amazing” the woman said, “What should be do first?”

“First,” John said, “You need to taste cotton candy.” They walked up to one of the vendor’s and John bought some cotton candy and gave it to the woman. When she bit into it there was a look of surprise on her face. “Wow, it melts when you bite into it.” They continued to walk down the boardwalk.

“What is that?” she asked pointing to the roller coaster at the far end of the boardwalk.

“That’s a roller coaster, these cars ride on tracks really fast and go up and down. I don’t know how to describe how it feels, do you want to ride it?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. After the ride was over, the woman had trouble staying on her feet. She was a bit dizzy and didn’t know how to explain it.

“What did you think?” John asked.

“I don’t know if I like it or not. It was a very strange feeling. I will have to think about it.”

“There is something else you will have to try.” John said.

“What’s that?”

“Hot Dogs!” John exclaimed as he approached a hot dog vendor and bought two hot dogs.

“Thank you.” The woman said.

“Your welcome.” John replied

“I have to go now. I’ll see you later.” This time the woman vanished right before John’s eyes.

“Goodbye” he said after she had already left. He was becoming fond of her. She asked so many questions about the things that she saw and did. She was very curious but she also seemed very innocent. He realized that he would never see his family again. He would live out whatever meaningless life that was left to him here in his comfortable cage.

He spent the evening like he had spent the previous evening, relaxing in the hot tub. He made the sky dim and he also made the stars to come out again. The lemonade appears on cue and tasted as good as any lemonade he had ever tasted before that.