DR FIXIT (4209 - 4219)

 

4209

I hated to admit it but a nagging thought

I couldn’t ignore – yes, the thought was hard to blot.

Like some young humans from poor countries

taken by sport teams to greater economies,

did the five decide to vamoose along

with the vehicles to go study large throng

of humans in the big cities and towns?

Did they suddenly feel stunted in the browns

and greens of the jungle and with what they saw

when I browsed the Net think they could thaw

 

4210

the iceberg in Greenland with their bare fists

and across global screens turned into instant hits?

I laughed and openly told the troops my thoughts.

‘It’s hard to admit this and though it hurts,

I think I know what actually had happened.

Because I showed us things online, their heads thickened

and they believed they could go steal the limelight too

so they decided to abscond from the crew.

But they forgot folks back home would think

we left them in the quagmire to sink.

 

4211

‘I wish they had let us all return there together

and later sneak to pursue their dreams wherever.’

‘Those ones with their tiny limbs, what really

is the one thing of meaning they could rally?’

a troop asked and the rest did giggle but I moved fast

to show them how at their low thinking I was aghast.

‘There’s no apt ratio between a dreamer and a dream

or minnows won’t ever dare to roam the stream.

If one stupid spark could burn down an entire house,

anyone can be anything though the size is like a louse.

 

4212

‘I flew out of this jungle clinging to a grasshopper

and hopped around the world from ship to helicopter

and returned to dazzle all with charming tales –

big dreams aren’t only for those who can tip the scales.

Let’s not think like some when they’ve tried and yet can’t

stunt your growth with their bullying, vain and arrogant

they’d eventually broadcast that they found you.

What I’m miffed about the five missing from our crew,

if really they went hiding and left for human towns,

is they’ve tagged this mission unduly with frowns

 

4213

‘as it isn’t with happiness I’d narrate this

to their folks – I left without marring anyone’s bliss.’

When Crookedmouthit finally returned with his team

without a fang of the missing five with him,

my suspicion now got a bold stamp on it.

I wondered loud if the five thought they’d eat

chocolate cakes and drink flavoured milk

(we all shared smiles here) and even wear silk

in human big cities and towns. Well, whatever

I wished them the best with great dreams in their grey matter

 

4214

they were nursing. I gathered the rest and with speed

(me leading and manning the rear was Crookedmouthit)

left for home as I didn’t want any stupid tale

again to hear and behind us was the threat of a gale.

Suddenly, the sky darkened and the outlook

was of rain – we rushed and reached the nook

by the brook and the impending rain

forced night out of the clouds. I’d get migraine

if thumping and stalling us was any raindrop

as this movement at no point did I want to stop.

 

4215

It became really dark and we put our night goggles

on and the wind raged and there were real tussles

on the trunks and leaves and everyone threw a glance

up when sticks and logs cracked and down did dance;

we rushed along with the troops holding the script

inside as others watched their flanks, heads to feet.

Only the rage of the wind we heard for long

as the birds momentarily lost their song.

We returned on the track we followed

as we came and hoped that the rain furrowed

 

4216

it not if its spout it had decided to spew;

if a threat to life, somewhere safe with the crew

I’d hide and wait hopefully for an hour or two

before back on the track our journey we’d renew.

Then, my thought decided to dwell on my beau:

was she eating alone rice with the stew?

Or did her niece join her as they thought

it might take more days before back we brought

the script down? The gale at long last whittled down;

my thought lingered with my wife back in our town.

 

4217

Except for the five spoilsports, fulfilled I felt;

thoughts of her the ice of loneliness in me did melt.

Retrieving the script was like accompaniment

while Blessit the song granting me real merriment.

Every step forward with joy I was suffused

though over the intents of the five I was confused.

If they were harmed, a trace of a thing about

them we would’ve seen and their shout

of anguish we would’ve heard – they had all slipped

out to greener pastures on a free trip.

 

4218

What would be the reaction of my wife

when the story I’d narrate or had the hive

been ruffled? They had parents and siblings

who would come to me with barbs and stings.

I mean, how would they react? I’d retrieved my dream

but to hint them their kids were drowned in a stream?

Did the kids see a damning fire they did stoke

which my wanderlust again could really poke?

It dawned on me once the script we did deliver,

I might return to cross many a stream and river

 

4219

to go get the five missing troops back

as it looked my repute on the soiled rack

could hang. I played with this thought for a long time

and rolling in to remind me on another line

was the text: ‘THE RETURN OF MENDIT ONE’,

the sequel to ‘DR FIXIT’. My scripting gun

to it I pointed and dropped some killer lines

deep in my head with mnemonic rhymes.

Back home they’d be easy to retrieve.

Does the new vagabond merit a reprieve?