Folk Tales No. 31

Hansel & Greta ....

There lived a family in the cottage in a sizeable faram on a reasonable piece of land which resides in a properrous country within the plains of the larger continent next to large oceans on all all sides, but our story will stick to a radius of walking distance. For its from here, two kids named Hansel and Greta choose to start a new adventure. Now to give you a background on Hansel and Greta, they are normal kids with the unfortunate choice of having their natural mother dead before she can see these kids grow. So the young father of the younger family decided that he needed a mother for his younger kids, and thus he married a lady from the nearby village. Of course, he courted her, introduced her to the kids, and explain the conditions of their marriage which includes custody of the kids. So all terms and conditions agreed, they went on a longer courtship before they married. Now Hansel and Greta are bright kids; they have a great time with many things their father gave them. These are very lucky kids, and they enjoyed it. Now the new mother was not told that she has to do a lot of houseworks alone, but she did so she could not had time to see the kids much while working.

So one day, Hansel and Greta packed up for a walk in the woods nearby, and GPS for directions. And of course Mineral Water, in case of thirst. So the young kids set off to the woods. They walked and walked, stopping to looked at the fauna and flowers, picking on beautiful dainty ones too. After a long walk, they took a rest and drank their water. Then they felt hungry and so Greta said; ‘lets head back’. They tried to retrace their journey, but they were not sure where they are. So Hansel took out his GPS unit and activated it. But the trees leaves was blocking it from reading the signal, so they moved on trying to find a good spot with clear reception. They did finally discovered a clearing and off went the unit due to lack of power. So after trying to locate a power source in the woods and arguing on whose responsibility it was to re-charge the unit, they came across a cottage. So they went up to the door and knocked. The door was opened by a old lady with a crooked hat and an equally crooked smile. She heard their story and offered them food and shelter. But she had no power source as she lived in the woods. But the kids was too hungry to asked more of the old lady who lived all alone in the woods, so they just ate the food offered and soon slept on the bed provided.

When Greta woke up, she finds herself in a cage and Hansel was cutting woods for the fire place. It turned out the old lady is a lonely lady with intentions to keep these kids as slaves. So she made them work and work but only one at anytime, while the other sits in the cage. Not too bad as they get 12 hours of work for equal hours of rest, and there was food. But no TV makes Hansel and Greta sad kids. So one day, Greta saw her chance to escape the agony of working here. She boiled a large pot of water with intention to make onion soup. She cut the onions and was weeping away, and so the old lady asked why is she crying. She said, I cannot do both works at the same time, cutting the onions and tending the fire to boil the water. So the old lady said; ‘I will tend to the boiling’. So she did, and Greta said, ‘ can you see if the water is boiling?’ The old lady being hampered by poor bone structure, climbed up the stool and peek down the boiling water. As she was doing it, Greta pushed her in and let her get boiled with the water. Greta then freed her brother and ran out of the cottage.

‘How are we going to find our way home?’ asked Hansel.

‘Pa always said, if in trouble, run for home. As home is where love is always there and you will always find it there.’ And so they did, after running for days, they managed to reach home without any GPS to guide them. And they were relieved and will not drink onion soup for a long time.

( No matter how troubled you are, home is your sanctuary of love. And prepare yourself with the basics skills, when all else fails, these will work still. )

Elite No. 19

Day One

Early Night

2100 hrs

‘Humprey, next time I will select the holiday destination. You spoiled mine this year. And besides this stupid riot, all I did see was your eyes on those ladies in their bikini’s.’ I guess poor Humprey did not planed this to happened on their 35^th Anniversary but at the age of seventy five, there are still something more to see besides a square cardboard sized fridge for a wife to be served on daily.

But he will sue  the travel agent for recommending him this sun and sunny ladies holiday package.

More to it, the typhoon Jimmie is dying in its torment of the islands as the depression seems to be receding. So the storm will be just a bad tropical storm soon but the rain will be there for at least six more hours.

Insurance brokers are putting their calculators away for the night.

But on the Capital, the Commisioner is getting worried about the communications lines to the island. He has requested for aerial surveillance but that was rejected due to bad weathers. He however has the approval of the Navy Admiral send over his detachement of marines who is on training on another island near Genoe to go over in the morning. The trip will take about two hours by the frigate there.

Sure tells you what old friends and a bottle of good rum can do for favors.

As for Jake, he is reading the old newspaper as there are no TV to watch and his wife is sleeping with the kids. Guess it will be a lonely night and even lobsters can’t do much to stirred her up.

2103 hrs.

The rookie looked over the wooden crates they stacked up in front of the Evidence Room. They are down to five of them alive and one of them is the vet who is also shot in the arm, which is hastily bandaged. The other earlier wounded one died from his wounds. The remaining policemen are armed with their M1911 except for the rookie who is now holding a AK47’s.

This is the second major attack in the last two hours. The first gang they managed to repel off with our firepower during the blackout. This other group arrived later and took over the attack. They are more organised and they soon fought them way into the warehouse area now. The remaining policemen can see the gang members from the small sporadic fires that has lit up the warehouse.

Its a stand off with them; twelve armed gang members with AK47’s and five of these policemen. The gangster’ has drove their SUV and trucks into the warehouse and formed a line of defensive wall. There now two SUV and two trucks there, of one which is a tow truck with a crane at the rear..

‘Hey, Krigs. You wanna the stuff here and we want to go home. What do you say we trade off?’ Rookie was calling for negotiations with the leader of the Krigs.

‘Pig, you come out and we talk, but no guns.’ The rookie can see the leader now. He’s been seen on the streets when rookie was doing his patrol rounds but they never met face to face.

Rookie put his M1911 into the back of his waist and covered it with his jacket. He gave his AK47 to the vet and walked out. If we were to see his forehead, he is sweating from fear and not heat. The Krig Leader came out too in his sleeveless shirt and jeans. He swagger over on his beach sandals.

‘Your name, pig?’

‘Does it matter, arsehole. We want a SUV on the left of the warehouse near the room, and you all go to the other side and wait. We board the SUV and drive, and you can get your stuff. We understand each other now.’

‘What makes you .....’

‘Cut the movie script and said yes or no.’ Rookie looked at the leader in the eyes, and hoped his psychology 101 learn at home paid off.

‘Okay.’ The leader walked back to his own barricades of cars and men.

A few minutes later, a black SUV with Krig logo’s was driven next to the Evidence Room. The wounded vet was the first to get in and he sat on the driver seat. He signalled okay for them to get in. All four of them got in and the SUV took off for the exposed entrance of the warehouse. The Krigs’ on seeing the policemen leaving, jumped in joy and went to the Evidence Room.

Once the SUV left the compund, the rookie removed the remote detonator from his jacket. He pulled the lever and the warehouse exploded into flame. He smiled as his pop used to teach him how to lay dynamites and set those detonators in the mines they once had.

‘Where to, rookie?’

‘How about Jake’s? They served good food there.’

2115 hrs

We were on the roof of the Tech Corner Bulding overlooking the Station, which is probably running its power from the genset at the basement.

I took account of my arsenal and was gave them out again. I passed two more clips for the Uzi to Melanie. She still has her SIG SAUER and the spare clips. I kept the last clip for the UZI I am having slung on my back now. The previous was discarded at the villa.

I have two extra clips for the MP5A3 and I passed one to Marius who is still holdng his. Marius’s Glock is missing so I passed him one SIG SAUER with an extra clips. I still have my Glock with a half load on it, plus one spare clip.

That was it unless you count his L96A1 with eight rounds left.

He told me he wants to even the odds for us.

It was my idea to check on the Station for more guns. And men if any is alive.

Here we are now on the rooftop, and our SUV parked at the back. I took Melanie and Alicia with me downstairs again and out into the back alley. I walked over to building next door and bokre the back door locks. It opened to Ben;s and told the ladies to cooked us some dinner. Ben won;t mind now if we used his stocks.

Meanwhile I ran across the rain in a half crouched manner until I was about 10 yards from the Station. I hit behind a patrol car which was parked in front of the station. The heavy rain pour helped me to cover my visibility.

Now I wait for the cue to go in.

2123 hrs

I had a simple canopy slung over my head and rifle so that the rain does not hamper my shooting. This is not a precision shot requirement, but a termination call. So no marks for placing of the bullet as long as it hits the target and stopped it. I counted three snipers and some missing mortar crew; probably in the shades or downstairs for their meal. The three snipers are spaced out across the roof facing different direction.

I aimed at the one facing the front entrance and also my counter opposite. He is not looking at his target area but cowering under his parka. And smoking a cigarette under it. This time I did not wait for the thunder, I took his face off the body with one shot. He fell backward onto the roof but by then, my aim was on the sniper to his left; the one facing the Governor’s Office. That sniper must had heard the shot, turned to look and could only see partial visibility.

He was next on his upper chest and he fell over the gutter onto the pavement.

The third sniper missed the first shot sound but heard the second shot. He turned to see his colleague across the roof and could not see the guy. So he stood up and to get a better view. It was his last thought and he was lying on the roof soon with a  chest shot.

Now I trained my shots into the front door and windows in random orders to prevent any from coming out while Marcel makes the last 10 yards.

My eight shots gone, I left the rifle there.

Male Tales 1.094

Issue 1.094: Men above 40’s...

Many has been said about men above 40’s ..... and they are depressing jokes.

Why is that so?

Is ‘40’ a magical number to state the decline of the man or is it his half way mark of his mortality and what been up will naturally go down. Dinna think so; ask my friend who takes the blue pill, he is ‘upper’ most time.

But he is not married so he is okay to enjoy that innovation. We have to get consent at our age.

So what is with the number 40? Take some samples of the views below;

·         The mug says Happy 40^th Birthday, and it showed a car speeding downhill. Honestly at age of 40, I won;t speed down a sloping hill.  The mug creator should read what Edward Young ( poet and writer 1683-1765 ) quoted; “Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed.” It must be the horses then. If he seen the Ferrari today, he will requote his words to a ‘dead fool indeed’.

·         ‘Life begins at 40 - but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times.’ Helen Rowland ( writer 1976-1950 ).

Care for me to repeat that last line .... you want me to..... okay. Must be true of the age old hearing issue.

·         The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune. ( English Proverbs ). I told that to my wife married to me for over 20 years, and her reply was a swat on the head with ‘live your age, old man’. I thanked thee for ye guidance on it.

But I guess Cora Harvey Armstrong sums it up well as quoted by her; ‘Inside every older person is a younger person - wondering what the hell happened’.

Trust me many of us reached this age without realizing it.

My daughter sums it well in her own view; ‘I still have two or three years more of education freedom, and then after it, its a lifelong slavery of works and responsibility, so spare me a moment to let me live as a kid for now’.

Yes, darling. Daddy hear ye. So rest now and when you are ready by the stroke of midnight on that year, we will sent you off the door with your luggage.

Truly, when I was her age, I wanted to be an adult so I can get a job and earn money, plus get into the theater which says ‘above 21 age only’. For the later, you only need is a broadband nowadays.

Okay, back to the age 40. So is it a magical number for all of men.

Pardon me, mate; the ladies do not age beyond the age of 35. They stay resilient at that age for the rest of their live. As one lady puts it, the wrinkles are an after effect of too many smiles. And not of skin muscles tension issue.

Honestly, I dunno as I live daily with my life with no regard to my age numbers. And I am above, though at times I feel like one above 40, but my mind is still below 25 at most hours.

So I writing this to tell an old friend who just turned 40, you are not old or downhill. You just hit another notched in the age number and be thankful you are alive. Some of our peer never hit that number before they went off.

So dinna worry about the numbers, just count your coming days of fun and joy as more things come unravel before your eyes.

Some tips for the older age group.

·         Worried about losing your job, create one new for yourself.

·         Why worried about kids, when its your kids who are doing the worries now.

·         She is leaving you. Put on your hat and buy her the flowers you forgotten for the last years. She will reconsider.

·         She is not leaving you. Be thankful there is a warm supper instead of a cold TV dinner.

·         Still missed Monica; give her a call. But bear her mind, when she asked what is a four letter word, and starts with a relationship; she meant ‘crosswords’ and not ’crossed limbs’.

·         With 40 years of history, you will never run short of topics to talk about, even though its repeated more than once.

So 40 and above is still okay.

As one lady set it right for me; it still there, but its may be falling more to the sideways if unsupported.

She was referring to the Pisa Tower.

Folk Tales No.30

Fox and the Hound.....

If we could switch identities, we will all want to be with the best... but do we fit in is always the question.

So our story began.

‘Howard, come here. We got us a fox to catch.’ So Howard the Hound came running out on his four legs and flapping ears.

‘So where we are headed?’ asked the enthusiatic Hound.

‘We are going east up to the river bend move from there to Ben’s place’, said Farmer Todd. So the duo went on their hunting trail, with the Hound braking incessantly. Somewhere in the woods, was the fox named Holly; she is a foxy number and does the trot near the river bend this morning. She had her fill of the hen caught last night. Her ears pricked up as she heard the dog’s barking coming towards her. So Holly fled the scene for the other side of the woods.

Now when Farmer Todd arrived at the river bend, he found only the feathers of the hen, and no fox. He told Howard; get the fox, boy. So he did, circling around, and then jumping in joy he went with his tail wagging. And the Farmer followed suit with his shotgun ready to shoot the fox. But Howard led him to the pheasant nest and down went the population of the pheasants. That evening, while enjoying his dinner of the pheasant sauteed with chunks of potato, he forgotten about the dead hen. Unknown to him, Howard was at the creek lying next to his friend, Holly. Both Howard and holly has known each other since pup and cub; growing and playing together. When they were older, they find themselves attracted to each other, so they come to the creek to meet.

‘Howie, can we swap places? You be the fox for a while. I will take over your place as the Hound.’

‘You sure. I mean I may end up with some buckshots, and die’, they both laughed at the possibility and agreed to this foolish game. Isn’t being in love one too?

So Howie went back to the den in the ground and Holly took his place at the dog house. Now as the night dragged into the the early morning, Holly felt hungry so she just walked over to the hen’s house.

‘Called Howard! We have a fox here....’ screeched the hens.

‘Cut it low, ladies. Howard taken a vacation, and I am his replacement. So stay calm, and we will lose only one of you tonight.’

‘Talk about false security, and guess who gets to be the victim always’ said the same hen who sounded the alarm. As the saying goes, don;t open your big mouth too soon as Holly made her choice. Meanwhile Howard was also getting hungry and there is no food in the den. So he had to run around to sniff for food, and some poor mice never made it back to their litter.

This went on for some days, and the poor farmer kept on losing hens and he was upset. He told his wife, I am getting a new hound, as this one is sleeping on the job. Poor Holly heard him so she ran for the woods. She met Howie; looking thin and tired on her way back.

‘Howie, you need to go back. The farmer is thinking of replacing you with another hound.’ That shook the sleep out of Howard, and he ran back to the farm. He went up the farmer and waggle his tail but the farmer ignored him altogether. So he went back to his dog house and sulk. He then saw the congregation of hens who came to see him.

‘Howard, where were you when we needed you? How can you let a fox take over your job when you are on vacation. Do you know we lost cousin Denise, Sarah and also those loud mouthed Wayne sisters? ‘ Now Howard was shocked and he was upset. So he ran for the den and confronted Holly.

‘You took my place and destroyed the place. How can you do this?’

‘Howie, so did you. You thrashed my neighbourhood for food, and you leave me a messed up den. Even my own foxes ostracised me for being friendly with a hound. I think we ought to call it quits.’

So they did and until today, they will not meet at the creek and avoid each other. Although the farmer tried to get them to see eye to eye, so he can removed the other one, but they never did.

( sometimes to know another person better, we need to be in that person’s environment where the real personality can be appreciated. Then you have to decide. )

‘

Elite No. 18

2045 hrs

I cleared the corridor of any hostile was walking up the side staircase to the upper landings. As I reached the top landings, I could see there was a man standing at the end of the corridor with a Remington 870 on his right shoulder. He is wearing army fatigue and there is three stripes on his upper arm sleeve.

‘James!’ I shouted out.

He turned to look at me and I shot him with the MP5A3 on full burst. I oculd had held the trigger for no more than 3 seconds and the Sargeant was flung to the balcony railings of the Central Wing. He felled over the railing still clutching his Remington 870.

I saw Marius looking at me across from the other corridor and he was shot then. I could see his Glock fell from his right hand and dropped a few feet away.

I ran across the corridor and round the connecting balcony to cross over.

2049 hrs

I felt the bullet hit me on my upper chest near the left shoulder. It must had been a clean shot as I could feel it ripped through the muscles and out from the back. I fell down backwards and the Glock left my hands as it slipped away. The next thing I know I was on the floor next to opposite wall.

I could see the General aiming his M1911 Gold Plated gun for a second shot.

It was by instinct of many years of training, I swung my body to the right side as he fired the second shot. The bullet hit the wall about six inches above the carpet. It was also from years of training, that when I turned my body back to the earlier position, I had my Colt Python in my right hand.

I fired the shot based on my training. It hit the General in the chest and he fell onto his chair.

It was then Marcel reached me and looked at the General in the room. The old man was holding his chest but my shot was deadly; it on his left too but lowered than mine.

2052 hrs

I reached Marius and looked at his wound. He will live and I am now aiming to kill whoever shot him. It was the General and he is hurt bad. I walked up to the General and kicked his M1911 away from his reach.

‘Kingfisher?’

‘Why the contract, General? What is Melanie to you?’

‘Melanie...... investment of millions..... you knew her?’

He never heard my answer as he was dead from the burst arteries in the heart caused by the bullet. I walked out of the room to tend to Marius.

Not many people know, but Marius got a rare DNA defect; his heart is on the right side of the body. Its called Dextrocardia.

Then I heard more shots from Marius. I ran over to joined him at the doorway. He has managed to drag himself in before the shots got more nasty.

‘Kingfisher! Come on out. Lets do a personal fight. Just you and me.’

Its Jones and he is still alive.

2314hrs.

Jones stepped out and reached for his waist strap on the Kelvar. He pulled off the Kelvar and removed it.He is a big man with his T-shirt rippling with muscles design on it.

‘Kingfisher, one on one. Loser gets a fast death wish.’

‘Pardon me, Jones. I am a gunman not a street fighter.’ I shot him with the MP5A3. At the short distance, Jones was flung back the corridor from the impact.

‘Coward.....’ was his last words.

2059 hrs

Three souls with one passion; to live peacefully now knows the rules of engagement, but they are outnumbered still but they will win as they felt that determination to stay alive helped them this far.

Elite No. 17

1951 hrs

I slowly walked up the stairs with my MP5A3 pointed upwards. I am not keen to shot at while going up. I reached the mid level and scan the top again. I took the next seven steps and was about to peek at the level flooring when I saw the guard walking carrying a tray in his hands. He dropped the tray on seeing me, and tried to reached for his AK47’s slung on his left shoulder.

The MP5A3 short burst took him down but it also woke up the rest of the other guards to my direction.  Three doors on the corridor at this level opened up to reveal men with AK47’s or a M1911. I did a series of three shots burst on those doors and crouched down when they returned fire.

I took out spent clip and put in the new one. I took out the grenade and unclipped it before tossing it. It was smoke grenade and it made good smoke screen in this enclosed are. I was up and running when I tossed the grenade to the one of the four large marble statue that lined along the corridor. The smoke did their works as the guards came rushing out with their guns blazing. When I saw one rushing past me still firing his AK47 at my previous location, I let him have it one on the back. Then rolled over another grenade which is a fragment one. I stayed close to the statue and kept my head down when it explode..

‘fire in the hole....’ someone holler and then ..... BOOM!

Both my ears felt like they been pierced with a needle but I got up woobly onto my feet and unslung the MP5A3. I walked up to the first dead body which is already dead. I peeked in at the nearest door and saw another body lying against the bed frame but he is alive. I gave him a single shot at the head to ease his pain.

The next body was sprawled on the floor at the opposite door and he was moving. I took care of that too.

Then I saw the shadow of someone shooting at me. The bullet would had not missed me by inches if I did not crouched down to look at the room which I just shot the man. I turned my body and swung the MP5A3 with my finger on the trigger.

The lone gunman was shot dead in the next second with his M911 in his left hand.

2004 hrs

It was hell waiting here when you can hear all the shooting and you are not part of it. I told Alicia to stay there and hold the bags. If someone comes in, just scream out loud unless its me or her uncles’. I can still hear the gunshots coming from everywhere and then setting off of the bombs.

I unslung my Uzi and set to full burst. I also grabbed the two grenades for myself. Just in case I need it.

I went to the door that will lead me out of this door. There was this guy standing in front of the door with his AK47. He turned to look at me, and I pulled my trigger on the Uzi.

Thats one down now. I peek out to see Marcel running towards me, with his MP5A3.

‘Are you hurt?’

I shook my head and followed behind.him. My thigh still hurts but I am managing with the pain. We came to the Central Wing Ground Level and was greeted by shots from both sides. Marcel pushed me against the right wall and he went the opposite one. He took out a grenade from his bag and unclipped it. He held onto the pin while deciding when to throw.

He finally did it to the left wing and fire his MP5A3 at the right wing. The blast from the grenade fell short as the the grenade hit the wall instead of going into the corridor. The grenade landed onto the central lobby. Luckily it was a smoke grenade.

2015 hrs

I took off my bag containing the grenades. I pulled the clip on one of the fragment one and zipped it back in the bag. I slung the bag across to the left corridor again and pressed myself to the wall.

Boom!

It was a major explosion with the remaining grenades. Melanie was flung back a feet inwards to the corridor. I did not paused to check on her but grabbed my MP5A3 to shoot at the right corridor as I walked out. I reached the left corridor entrance and discarded the MP5A3 for the Uzi. I put the Uzi round the wall towards the corridor with my right hand and pulled the trigger for full burst. I threw that off too and took out my Glock 17. I held it in both my hands and walked carefully into the corridor.

Two of them was lying on the ground and the third was sitting against the wall trying to raised his AK47. I shot him at pointblank. I turned to the opposite corridor and saw no one standing there. I could see two bodies lying on the ground not moving.

I picked up my MP5A3 and removed the clip. I pushed in a new clip and walked back to Melanie. She was then sitting up gainst the wall with her hair in disarray and cupping her ears. Her Uzi is on her lap and I took it to check the clip. Its still half full and I pushed it back. I gave it to her for her use and motioned to her to sit there.

I walked out the corridor to the one on my right. By instinct, I swung my MP5A3 up to the next level landings and saw Marius looking at me through his MP5A3 gunsight. He is bleeding from some cuts on his face and left arm.

2025 hrs

I was running towards the Central Wing when I heard the first grenade exploded. It blew some debris into my body and I felt the cuts. I had then crouched down on the flooring trying to find my balance when I heard the second bigger boom. That really rattled the villa and even brought down the statues’ on my landing.

I slowly got up and crawled over to peeked over the landing. I saw Marcel running into the left corridor and started firing his guns. Then I saw him running back to the corridor below mine. That was when I got up and raised my M_5 to offer any cover fire if required.

Marcel walked out from the corridor and stood at the middle of the ground lobby. He then turned to raised his gun at me while I was looking at him.

I signalled him I am going to the right wing and he showed me as the left wing.

I slung MP5A3 on my back and took out the Glock 17 and held it in both hands as taught in the academy. I tread carefully to the corridor entrance and peeked over. The shot that came was from a AK47 which tore off the wooden panels.

These guys are trigger happy for sure.

I took up a piece of picture frame which came down from the earlier blasts. I threw the frame to the far side of the wall on the left and the shooters went there. It was then I step out and crouched down with my Glock firing. He was standing on the same side of the wall as me. The three shots I took hit him in the chest and he felled over to the back of his body.

I half crouched and half run into the corridor and stopped at the nearest door. It was open and there is no one inside the room. I moved to the next one and the door was closed. The man I shot was only five feet away from this door so he could be protecting someone here. I stood at the side of the door and tried the knob.

It was answered with a shotgun balst that tore a nasty hole in the wood. I immediately stepped back when the second shot came to where I was standing, blasting through the plaster and paint. I sidestepped in the previous position and took my shot through the new hole. I hit the man in his left shoulder causing him to drop the 12 gauge double barrel shotgun which he was loading.

He was dressed in his army uniform and it looked like general stars on the shoulder tab.

‘General Mahua, I presume’.

New Pangaea

This is a trailer bit....or teaser if you want to call it ... grrrr......

The new beginning

The reptile that perced on the twig lashed out its tongue and caught the unwary beetle that flew by it. The tongue of the reptile curl in its length along with the bettle stuck on the tongue ends which is struggling in frantic movements to escape the sticky substance that is on its wings and shell. The tongue curled itself onto the bettle and was soon swallowed in whole by the reptile. The meal it has taken will last it for some time. The reptile keen sight from its two portruding antenna eyes scour the area for its prey, but it did not picked up the image of a open jaw with two large fangs taht swooped it off the twig. The reptile felt the fangs piercing its upper and lower back, which the secretions from it, imobolise the reptile. The reptile body was devoid of life within seconds as its long tail which was swinging in frenzy dropped to a standstill.

The size of the reptile is about the equivalent in a large house rat, but its foe is a long slimy amphibous scaled slittery reptile which feasts on other smaller reptiles or their own kind. Its length is almost two yards  but its no competition to the beaked winged two footed feather creature. Its right foot with its three claws held the slittering creature from moving away while its beak was pecking the skin of the creature at the back of its head, and pierced the brain in there, causing the other creature to die in cries of pain. The beak creature used it sharp beak to tear away the scaled skin off the dead reptile and eat at its flesh. As its eating the beaked creature looks with one of its eye on the surrounding. Its a unique feature of the creature to have independing sight of views as this is their self defence against other preys. It picked up the large carnivore with the large head with two long fangs on the front of the jaw. Its having a drink of water at the small stream near the kill area, but its ignoring the beak creature. It already had its earlier kill of a large curved twin horn bovine creature. The large carnivore is a fine specimen with a body mass of over five foot in height and eight foot in length not including its long tail. Its has on a shiny coat of golden colors that showed some bruises and healed cuts.

The golden carnivore did not see the bigger carnivore which rushed out of the trees and sink its sharp teeths into the neck of the golden one. This golden carnivore tried to swing it jaws onto the one’s whose jaws is already killing it. The length of the new carnivore jaw is about the length of the victim’s body and its next bite snapped the spine of the victim. It carried the catch in its jaws to its nearby nesting where three more baby sized of its same kind. But it did not reach the nesting as the metal tripod the size of its head came down on its back. The tripod leg is one of the seven on the base of the hexagon metal structure which is lowering down on its own landing thruster.

Homosapien or the name we commonly associated with has just landed on the New Pangaea. Its the first small step for mankind, but a major one for the survival of mankind in New Pangaea.

Oops, there goes the T-Rex with his tail between his legs....  yowl! yowl!

Male Tales 1.093

Issue 1.093: Pet’s owner parents issue...

I took this extract from Wiki for my thesis dissection.

Scalpel..... got it. Lets us do the incision now........

A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons.

I can agree to the first line as the pet is one animal we do not keep for economic or productive reasons. They are uneconomical to keep with their medical bills from the vet and surely is not productive unless you have a pair with different gender’s.

Or you have a sneaky dog like my neighbour’s who crawl or squeeze in between bars of steel to have an amorous affair.

No, she is not mine. Nor is her. They both belong to my neighbours but there are scent of their affairs in my garden.

No, I did not advocate free love at all times, nor do I condone ‘romeo and juliet’ liason in my unlit garden.

The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful characteristics, for their attractive appearance, or for their song.

I doubt my son’s iguana fits in either category. Nor will his friend’s beetle with their claws. If they have any appearance of playful on them, its probably hidden beneath their shell.

Pets also generally seem to provide their owners with non-trivial health benefits;^[1] keeping pets has been shown to help relieve stress to those who like having animals around. There is now a medically-approved class of "therapy animals," mostly dogs, that are brought to visit confined humans. Walking a dog can provide both the owner and the dog with exercise, fresh air, and social interaction.

My first impression ( I loved those K9 series ) agreed with the above until the pets evolved into hamster, mices ( poetic correction from rats ) , reptiles including slittery ones, and also creatures that should belong to their original habitat. I do not regard a possum or a prairie dog the same as a domesticated dog.

The most popular pets are dogs and cats, but there are also rodent pets, such as gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas, fancy rats, and guinea pigs, and avian pets, such as canaries, parakeets, or parrots.

They should be let off to their own habitat and be far from the touches of human. I am not being biased, but they deserved that life compared to one where a kid with braces telling them ‘no no’ in their face. This is outrageous to the animal behaviour training. They need not be trained by the homo sapien; they been well taught for ages from their own.

Its just that we need to be taught that not all animals are pets for us to keep.

I rest my paws on the rug now. The days when a pet become to live like humans; we will have the animal kingdom to overrun the streets. Soon, one day, you will find walkways for the iguana on 58^th district.  I wondered if their owners will picked up their poo poo during the walks.

I guess not. They trained me to sit on the potty nowadays. Now where is my lunch? Oh no, not those canned meat again. Don't they know its bad for my gastro system.

I guess they can't understand my barking anyhow. They might take it for begging instead.

( I am an advocate of animal rights, and most animals are not be kept as pets as its not their habitat to govern by us. They are to let free in their own environment and not kept in cages. Till the parrots can quip; ‘stupid buml with a hole, they looked like you’; I am staying without a pet human since I have a owner who served me for now. )

Elite No 16

1828 hrs

I don’t know why I agreed on their idea to ask General Mahua.  That man is a monster in the army suit; with a knack of feeding people to his cocodiles. The general retired sometime back, with a hidden stash of money from other crimes payoffs. He muscled in with his own gang named the Mahua Gang; grabbing the protection of the established companies and mines. He had some ex-army and police working from him ,and they helped him to build his empire. Soon he was reputed to the biggest gangs, removing some of the smaller ones and absorbing them into his army. He soon pulled up his works into drugs and prostitution with the booming tourist market.

I did two jobs for him and he paid well. But we kept our distance, as he has his own killer in the name of Jones. His personal aide and ex-army Sargeant Major. The man is a brute as he is known to kill more than twenty people during the general’s buildup of fame.

None of his victims were found as some claimed that were eaten by the crocs or sometimes the sharks as the general villa is by the beach with his own jetty front.

The villa is a two storey construction with a singular large dome ( a hundred feet in diameter )in the centre to split the two wings of over two hundred feet long each. The front of the villa is a four round pillar to support it front long balcony of a hundred feet in length and fifty five feet in width. The back of the villa facing the sea is another structure of two storey of over a hundred feet to the back porch that fronts the sandy beach. The near similar sized olympic sized pool of eighty two feet in length and forty one feet in width is on the left side of this rear wing, with a small building next to it on the other side, which is a small bar and sauna room. The right side of the rear wing is the mini golf course of nine holes with various mini obstacles.

The zoo as termed by the General is to the right of the golf course; about two hundred feet away with its ten inhabitants of swamp crocodiles or better known as Cuban crocodiles. He had them brought in by boat. He likes to intimidate his guests with their presence nearby as they play golf. He does not like dogs as they tend to salivate and jumped on you, so he has live guards in the form of men. Normally he has twelve armed men in his villa guarding him and his crocodiles. He has no need of any women as he was incapacitated in a previous military engagement. He never speaks of it, and that record was known to me by close informers in the military records.

The perimater is fenced by a high wall of over eight feet with optical fiber intrusion detection systems. The system will alert all the guards on their wireless set on the location and time. Its used also at the mines area for intruders or thieves.

So its a fragging impossible place to get in and we are crazy to go there.

But not so for the detective next to me here.

1829 hrs.

They came in two SUV and a three tonne truck; all twenty of them youths armed with AK47 and an array of rifles to the Police Warehouse.

Inside there were the twelve policemen at their defensive positions. Three was behind the pickup at the entrance with their assorted rifles, plus one MP5A3. Rookie was asked to join them as he has the best fire power. The other two was holding the M16 and a pumpup shotguns each from the evidence room. Four others were at the right side of the entrance with some crates as protection from the youths, They could see the perimeter gate from their vantage view.

The other five are inside the warehouse with two on the left and the remaining on the right. They used topped over tables and chairs as ther defensive barrier. One policeman even turned the pallet stacker on its side to give him some solid backup. They are armed with the AK47’s and M16’s taken from the earlier group and some rifles from .308 to .22 hinting rifles. Plus the assorted handguns with various ammo boxes. Most of them have their M1911 Police issued but they only one clip of seven rounds each. They normally don’t carry their spare ammos on off duty.

The wounded policeman is at the Evidence Room with the M72 and a AK47. He also holds the detonator to the dynamites at the vault. He is the last defence; shoot the M72 and press the dynamite on the vault.

The rookie has rolled the barrel of fuel to the front of the warehouse which Ben has left at the vault. He had it stacked near the pickup.

‘Won;t it blow if someone shoots at it?’ asked the veteran of ten years in the force.

‘Nope, I seen it on Reality TV.’ But the vet was not convinced as he moved to the other end of the pickup.

‘The bastards coming in..’ was the call for action.

The rookies peek over his side of the pickup to see the SUV coming in as a defence barrier for the armed youths like the way they used the tanks for the infantry. But unlike a tank, this one has no driver as he feared for his own life, so he holds the steering wheel to direct the SUV from the opened car door while his friends pushed behind slowly.

The vet next to rookie took up his pumpgun and fired at the wheels of the SUV causing a flat but the car is still moving slowly.

As the first shot was fired, both sides started off their shooting at each others.

In that commotion, rookie turned over the half full barrel and rolled it out towards the SUV. He then lighted the lighter he had on him. Bless my luck, I do smoke and this come in handy now. The long line of spilled fuel was lit at the source here towards the barrel which is now stuck on the front of the SUV.

It was what they don’t de-myth on TV as the fuel burst out in an explosive manner, causing the youths to jump for safety. The few on the SUV jumped off the read end and ran for cover. Some of them got taken down before they can run for cover.

Thats when the power got shut off and the place was in semi darkness.

‘Anyone knows where the emergency lights are?’

‘Its in my car at the Station.’

1905 hrs

It was my stupid idea to swim in instead of walking through the front gate. Its a villa by the beach so the only place not fenced up is the beach.

But Marius was smart to get a small boat off the nearby beach. Its a dinghy actually with two oars, and can sit four comfortably. So we were rowing from half a mile distance. We saw the lights in the city going dark and we reckon its the coming bad weather. Its makes good sense to turn off the power as previous storms like this has caused death by electrical surge and fires in some homes.

As for the weather, the sea is very choppy but we are in an inlet so we are are spared the big waves but they still come in big here. As the dinghy rolled to all sides, I held on to Alicia while Marius and Marcel cling onto the oars and rowed hard. We tried to keep mostly to the beach as a guiding mark in case we get swept out to the sea. In a way we are quite safe but its dark out here in the sea with the waves coming in every second. We hit the spot where we were to to get off and the guys rowed harder to get onshore. I can see the part of the mansion from the dinghy and then the I saw the fence. The sealine has reached higher than normal so part of the extended fence is in the water. Marius signaled that we leave the dinghy and wade into the water, with me holding on tight to my darling girl. Its freezing cold out here but once you are in the water, its a warm feeling.

I wanted to leave Alicia in the SUV but the uncles said no. So here she is with us now.

We passed the edge of the fence and is now onto the stretch of the General’s beach. We slowly waded in with the rain as our cover. I can see the palm trees being swept by the winds and it looks like the scarecrow bending over to the side. The guys used the fence as our directional finder to get from the beach and onto hard ground. Then we took out the guns from our waterproof sheets which we find near the dinghy. It was used to cover some crates and now we are not concerned on it.

Marcel asked us to hold on as he surveryed the grounds.

‘We are near the zoo so be careful.’

Zoo? What zoo?

Then I remembered the pets of the General. That scared me well, as I started imagining crocodiles swimming near me. I held on m y Uzi and Alicia hard. Marius took the lead with his bag and MP5A3 plus the courier box all wet by now. Marcel took the rear with his MP5A3 cocked and ready like any man I know. Shoot first and woo later.

We proceeded up carefully onto the zoo compound among the palm trees until Marius signalled for us to stop. We were then by some high fencing and I looked into the fence area to see a pair of dull eyes looking at me with a long nasty jaw. Its the crocodiles and they are floating on the water which has risen with the rain water to the rim of the concrete edges. I took a step back in fright and reached for my Uzi. I was tempted to shoot it but Marcel pushed my barrel down.

I took courage to look at the cage again, and I saw them all floating on the surface.

Or is it all of them? I was looking for broken fence opening but noticed nothing through the rain soaked sights of mine. Marcel pushed me to followed on as I did not noticed Marius moving in front. We took the trail from the zoo compund to the graden lawn. There in the front of us was the metal garden table set. Its those you normally see at the backyard with a rectangle wooden table and two bench and the umbrella slot in the middle of the table. They weigh a ton to move, but this one is also screwed to the ground on some cement flooring. I can see the mini golf course next to the garden set. It does looked ugly from my view with all its all the curves and small man made narrow grass circuit.

I pushed Alicia under the table to avoid the rain and its still freezing cold.

1940 hrs

The buildings lights are on, so that means there is a standby power house for this villa. We are on the side of the building and there are is a lighted porch. Above it are the rows of closed windows with their drapes drawn.

I saw the guard at the lighted porch next to the mini golf course having his smoke. He must be desperate for one to stand in this windy conditions. I looked up the bulding to the second levels and see no one, until I hit the upper attic window. There was one guard there leaning out from the half opened window. He is looking out at the sea and smoking too. I opened the courier box and took out the L96A1 rifle. I looked into the lens and see its has night optics. I chambered in the bullet and set it on the bench for leverage. I trained my sight on the guy here at the porch.

I waited for the right moment.

Flash!

That was my cue from the lightning and I pulled the trigger it hit him just above his left eye brow. He was dead the next moment from my shot. I looked up at the attic window and see the smoker still enjoying his smoke. I motioned to Melanie and Marcel to move in now. While they were running in, I had my sight on the upper level guard. The guard did not see them as he looking out to the sea. I took up the rifle and joined them. Marcel had by then checked the long glass door to the house on his right.

1945 hrs

I find the door unlocked and it probably the guy we shot was the reason.

I went in and took up firing position with my MP5A3 and panned the room. There the other three followed me in and Marius closed the glass door.  We are in the reading room next to the Library if I recall it well. There is the rows of shelves with books and the rectangle oak wood table with a seating for six, plus the comfy sofa four seater recliner and a matching single seat adjacent to it. There is the grand piano on the right side of the room opposite the sofa set. There is a door to the left of the piano which opens to the Main Library or the General’s private room.

‘Stay here with Alicia. And we will be back.’ I motioned to Alicia to get under the piano and passed to Melanie two grenades and my spare Uzi.

‘Marius, you hit the top level and I will take the ground. Whoever gets the General hold him for questioning. Then we mopped the level of hostile. Expect at least tweny or so.’ Marius acknowledged his confirmation and we proceeded on. He took from his bag the MP5A3 and two clips plus two grenades. He left his sniper rifle with Melanie and also his remaining weapons in the bag.

I had my MP5A3 and three spare clips and my Uzi slung on my back plus my bags of remaining grenades. I  went to the door to the General’s room, and listened for sound., There is none so I opend it and walked in.

Like the previous room, it has got shelves of books and a sofa set but no grand piano. It however has a long personal desk that looks like the Resolute Desk in London. And two high end oak chair front it. I went to the desk and looked at the papers on the desk top.

I saw on the pad some interesting lines; ‘Melanie Silve Meli’,;’Marius’ , and ‘Contract $500K with bonus ‘wildcat’.

So he has issued a contract on her. I was not surprised.

I heard the gunshots and it sounded like MP5A3.

I rushed for the door to go outside the library, I bumped into two guards coming from the right wing down the corridor. I swung my MP5A3 and took them down in two bursts of three shots each. The shots came from the Central Wing and I ran along the corridor to the next door. I opened the door to peek in. Its the dining hall with its long rectangular table and there was two guys standing there.

They must had been having their meals when they heard the gunshots. But now they are armed with their M1911. I took them down with the MP5A3 before they can react. I stepped into the dining hall and walked to the far end door which will lead to the kitchen. I was about to reach it when the guy came barging in with gun blazing, He was aiming to pan the room with his AK47 before deciding who else was here. But I had crouched down on my knee when he jumped in. I shot at him on his mid level with my MP5A3. He was dead before he hit the floor. I took one of my grenade and pulled the clip before throwing it into the kitchen.

Boom!

That was enough for me to go in, and looked at the place. Small fires were starting to come on as the blast could had shattered some gas pipes or ignited some burning materials but it also reduced the guards by one more person. The uy must had been waiting for me to come in.

I took the other kitchen exit to come out at the same corridor I was in. Just in front on my right was the staircase to the next level which I can hear Marius doing his share of works.

I am down the same corridor I was in earlier but this time I am focussing on the left rooms now. I kicked the nearest one open and saw it was the servants room. Its empty so I moved on. But some bullets hit near me at the wood panelling.

I jumped in the room and stood by the doorway. Whoever it was that shoot me was now covering the corridor.