dice exercise #4

banana/night/bird/briefcase/heart-love/eye

I couldn't believe I was finally on my trip, the one I'd been preparing for my whole life: the journey to find the elusive Night Banana. It was known mostly in legend, although there were a few photos from the turn of the 20th century, showing the short, curly fruit recently plucked from its tree.  I was trekking through the depths of the jungle, with the discovery for the modern world of fruit on my mind, when we heard the call of the much more common Banana Crooner.

This bird was a menace, to put it simply.  It stole food from other birds, knocked over their nests, crapped all over everything it could see, and had the most atrocious voice you can imagine.  It was a combination of screech and croak, like what you might think the unholy offspring of a frog, a crow, and a three-year-old who wants ice-cream would sound like.  Despite its horrible sound, the bird was good looking, with soft golden feathers tumbling down its back and into a long, silky tail.  It dropped a load of foulness on one of the porters and glided away, giving one final scream into the air.

"I'll eat that son-of-a-bastard for breakfast!" the porter snarled, and he threw down his gear to chase the bird deeper into the forest.

"Wait!" we called after him, knowing what dangers lay in the darkness.  It wasn't actually nighttime, but the canopy kept sunlight from the forest floor in most parts, with only a few spotlights shining through where a venerable tree had fallen.  Many animals made their homes in the dim forest floor, but they weren't the danger, really.  It was the plants that made us pause before venturing into unknown spaces.  They were of many kinds: poisoness, carnivorous, spined, explosive...the list went on and on.  The only one that didn't have a death count was the Night Banana.  How I longed to see the squat trunk of its tree, gnarled bark gray under the lack of light.  I would bring them to civilization at last!

I took a flashlight out of my briefcase, the better to follow the porter with, and plunged into the dense forest after him.  The Banana Crooner might be the asshole of the bird world, but it also knew better than anyone where to find Night Bananas.  It was a coincidence, that.  It might like the tree, but it was called the Banana Crooner because of its bright yellow color.

I was reminding myself of this bit of animal trivia when I saw the most beautiful person on earth standing in the middle of the path that wound strangely through the darkness.  This person was still and quiet, waiting for me.  With eyes of fire, waiting.  Waiting to bring me to my prize and my reward.  A hand held out, asking to lead me to salvation and the redemption of humanity, my humanity.  A hand I will take, even as I ask, "...And the Night Banana?"