The Day after the Wedding.
Chapter 4
“Well Shoebill, I think we can say, overall, the wedding was a success.”
“Zenix, I was wondering, do you think we are a bit weird?”
“What do you mean, Shoebill?”
“Well, just a remark Komodo made. I never thought aboutf it before… But…”
“What? What did he say?”
“He said, 'You two are weird', and when I asked him what he meant, he said, ‘a man – humanlike, and a bird. That’s weird’ Do you think it’s weird, Zenix?”
“Does it matter, Shoebill? Does it matter what Komodo thinks?”
“I guess not. I’m happy here, I know that. But I guess some people do think we are weird.”
“Shoebill, if we are happy it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Everybody is weird to somebody else. The fact is our circumstances are very different. You came to me as an injured youngster from a storm, and we bonded right from the beginning. I love you very dearly, Shoebill, and would do anything to protect you. I’m confident you respect and love me too; therefore whatever anyone else thinks is irrelevant.”
“Oh, I feel so much better now.”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
“And since you raised the subject of the wedding, Zenix, I must say I admire the way you handled those children.”
“Oh, it was just a matter of keeping them busy. The devil makes work for idle hands, you know, Shoebil”
Just then they were interrupted by a timid knock at the door and a child’s voice asked, “Are you there, Mr Giant?”
To their surprise it was Koko, the eldest boy of Komini’s sister’s children.
Zenix jumped up and greeted him, “Koko, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What can I do for you?”
“Could we play in the maze again please, Mr Giant?”
“Play? You want to play? In the maze? But I thought…”
“Oh yes please. We love the maze, Mr Giant.”
“But you were there for two hours. I thought you were lost.”
“Oh no, Mr Giant, we love the rocks in the maze. We made a cubby house too, and we loved climbing on the rocks. I could jump from one to the other sometimes. And the shade was cool, too. It was a real cool maze, Mr Giant.”
Koko looked up at Zenix appealingly, “My sister, Kozy and my little brother are here too. Please can we play again?”
“Oh, yes, of course you may. So you weren’t lost at all? Well, I am surprised. Anyway, what is your little brother’s name?”
“He’s Arthur. Come on, Kozy. Come on, Arthur.”
Zenix turned around just in time to see Shoebill trying to straighten his face after laughing to himself.
“Too late! Shoebill, you should be ashamed of yourself. It’s too late to cover your face with your wing feathers. I saw you laughing at me.”
Then Zenix added, “Now, is that any way for a manservant to behave?” But he couldn’t help is face from breaking into a big smile. “Okay I was wrong! I didn’t realise Koko and the others were just bored. They just needed a little direction to keep them occupied, and accidentally I’ve given them some. I guess it’s been a learning experience for us all.”
Then Shoebill remarked, “We’d better keep an eye on that storm, Zenix, it’s coming up rather black overhead. We don’t want the children getting wet.”
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