TARA

DAY FOUR

Then, in the year 2138, Tara was in his twilight years. Breathing heavily, he would hop on the clouds and tear fiery leaves from the tree of the Young Blood, named by the Kuinas, the tiny inhabitants of the chocolate caves. Tara liked to lie down by the silver river, which cut through the middle of the golden valley, and slowly suck in the water through his long, green nose. Now the nose had turned red—this was the first indication that youth was approaching. He was sad about 2138. There was no need to hunt the flying bronze Ilonas. His son would bring him a frozen platter of sparkling insects. Now that the son was gone, he had to find food for himself. And it will only get worse ahead. Soon he will forget how to hop up on the clouds. Then his mother will appear—this was the only thing he looked forward to. The orange clouds flew swiftly across the earthly sky. The sapphire gaseous streams and lakes reflected the dark blue sun. Somewhere far away, a light-blue cliff glistered. Huge lemon drops of rain slowly fell upon the earth and settled among the burgundy-fuchsia grasses and transparent flowers. “Still, it’s good to enjoy everything around me,” thought Tara, “before memory begins to curl into a small seed.” He stretched to sniff a fragile yellow orb of a weed and pricked himself. Along with the red nose, he was beginning to lose experience. - 4 - Evening came, and the cold. Bracing for a long night, Tara nuzzled himself into the pink moss, and, hanging his head on a coral tree with a fuzzy trunk, started a long and mournful song which, for some reason, the Kuinas feared.

DAY THREE

The sun rose slowly, casting blue light on the chocolate caves, the silver rivers, and the hill where Tara stretched out leisurely, enjoying reveries of eternal old age. The Kuinas came out of the grottos only from seven to three. Nobody knew what they did the rest of the time. The caves were heavily guarded, and all attempts made by the local population to penetrate inside failed. Tara put his red nose into one of the cavities and felt such a powerful jolt that he saw sparks in his eyes. After a sudden jerk upwards, Tara flew high up and, grabbing onto a cloud, slid and slipped with his feet on the treetops and whirled away to the edge of the world. When everything shrunk to a small black dot, Tara started shaking with fear. The cloud that he was flying on was not a cloud at all. Small air bubbles fizzled around his head while the nose lashed from side to side. He looked down, trying to guess where the landing would be.

DAY TWO

The strange-colored green bushes with the pink flowers amazed him with their ugliness. Tara lay on his back, unable to turn: the collision was so strong that a deep dent formed underneath him. The pain vanished, but he continued lounging on the same spot until he saw above himself a countless number of lights on a black velvet backdrop. He pulled up with his nose, but couldn’t reach. Stood up and jumped—still couldn’t. The black blanket became bright blue and Tara plodded mournfully down the green field, looking for the way home. Cold, hungry and hopeless, he - 5 - saw so much strangeness that he stopped being surprised. For the first time in his life, he desperately wanted to get younger and meet his mother. He felt thirsty, dipped his nose in the river and saw something that made his heart beat and his feet jump for joy. The nose had turned green! He was aging! Jumping and twirling in a dance, he tore flowers and fell into dandelions, basking in the rays of the strange-colored sun. Having jumped his fill, he finally collapsed into the grass and looked right and left. There were no Kuinas mumbling something under their breath. He didn’t see any pot-bellied, one-winged Ilonas either, nor were there any herds of haughty and indifferent, blue-eyed Goonas. No silver rivers, chocolate caves, transparent flowers or yellow rain. Realizing this, Tara felt more and more lonesome. His quiet sobs were lost in the rustling of the trees. Fearful and bewildered, he cried louder and louder and, wallowing in a pool of his own tears, he yearned for home. Gathering all that was left in him, he yelled, “What am I to do?!” Time was going by. The sun painted the sky pink. Tara promised himself to never remember or miss 2138. Then he shut his eyes, counted to ten and opened them in hopes of seeing his beloved landscapes. But nothing happened. He fell asleep.

DAY ONE

The sun baked so harshly and was so blinding that Tara could barely open one eye. Imagine his surprise when he saw Goona’s snout hanging down before him. Startling up and grabbing the long neck, he hung on it and kissed the spotted body. She bucked, throwing him off, and dashed to her herd. Tara ran around madly, checking if the caves and rivers were in place, biting the clouds and licking the dew from the fiery leaves. Burgundy tears of bliss dropped from his eyes and, falling to the ground, they rolled along the golden valley and turned into blue, miniature dragons. - 6 - DAY ZERO Everything quaked and shook. First, the chocolate caves disappeared. Then the wind took away the Goonas and thousands of Ilonas rained on the ground. Tara dug himself into the moss and shivered, anticipating the transformation. Suddenly, he felt something warm lift him up and his eyes closed. He forgot everything. Someone put his tiny body into a transparent flower and left it swaying in the wind. This day, Tara was no more.