The Scary City And The Rats
The city had really become a very scary place to live. And since Felix brought the rod from the village, he and many people have been tormented. But they did not link the events to him. The worst came one day when Felix climbed a sky scrapper in the city and jumped to death. The news of the disaster spread across the city to his village and his father's palace where he stole the rod. They still did not link the tragedy to the stolen rod.
Because of what had been happening on the street and in the city, John and Hain felt that that they had to sleep in the same house to be able to protect each other and combat these supernatural forces tormenting people until they travel to the Federal Republic of Atlantis. They were however happy that they had collected their visas and would soon leave Freedomtown.
Few days later, John saw some big rats sitting around a table and waiting to have a meeting. From the necks of these huge rats to their toes were the features of human beings. They even wore human dresses like shirts, trousers, coats, and ties to match. Interestingly, their tails were sprouting out of their dresses. They also had shoes on. They had all the features of rats with long whiskers, noses, and teeth. The rats discussed before the arrival of their leaders. Five minutes later, the four leaders came into the big room.
The leaders of the rats wore soldiers' uniforms. They also carried swagger sticks. Being rats too, their tails came out of the dresses from the rear. As the four rats in military uniform approached the table other rats stood up to honor them. On the shoulders of these rats were their pips and ranks. They had their honors displayed on their breast pockets with their nametags. The four rats stood at attention and saluted the other rats in civil dresses and asked them to sit down. The inscription; COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF-OF-RATS was put on the table in front of the leader of the rats while his deputy had the inscription; DEPUTY CHIEF OF RATS. The other rats had the inscription: ASSISTANT RAT COMMANDERS on the table.
"Welcome to this meeting gentlemen," said the Commander-In-Chief-of-the-Rats.
"Thank you very much," the other rats said.
"You are all aware of the situation in the neighborhood. Human beings have become so rapacious in recent times that when they ate their food, they no longer left for us. We have complained to these humans many times but they did not take us into consideration. They have forgotten that God created all of us equally. No one will deny that all rats are no longer equal in this land. Our colleagues who lived in affluence before are not better than those who live in Churches and do not have food to eat because there are no canteens in churches."
"When you open the waste bins these days, there are no left over from the human race for our members. Many of our colleagues have lean and hungry looks. As a result, we the Armed Rats of this territory have decided to take over the government set up by the human race and chase them out of power because they are very selfish. We now impose a dusk to dawn curfew on the entire territory. There should be no movements during the period. Only those that are on essential duties like doctors and nurses should move about. All television and radio stations have been instructed to broadcast this speech," said the Commander-In-Chief-of-Rats as he adjusted his reading glasses.
He looked across the table and continued; "Gentlemen of the press, I hope this speech is good. Make sure that the other speech I asked you to broadcast is also relayed to the people so that they can comply."
The journalists who gathered to give him coverage struggled to take his pictures when he was about to sit down.
It was while this was going on that Hain suddenly screamed from his sleep. The rat on his chest jumped off. He saw the rat in reality. The rat was gnawing his hands while sleeping and dreaming that the Commander-In-Chief-of-Rats had just taken over the territory. Hain's noise woke John and they saw in a flash the rat that jumped away from his chest running away into a corner of the room. They began a big hunt for this rat, removing all the tables and chairs that blocked their path. But the rat hid in a corner, watching them as the combed everywhere.
"We just cannot go on living this way. They have sent rats to us again. These evil powers have sent rats or what can we call this? I was sleeping and I saw a gathering of rats in a meeting taking decisions on human beings. It looked like a coup. As if that was not enough, another rat was playing on my chest and gnawing my hand," said Hain.
"I am puzzled that despite going for the spiritual bath at the beach, these things still keep coming. We really have to finalize our plans and travel out of this place," said John.
"How can I explain that a rat came over me while sleeping on the bed?" Hain asked.
Both of them retired to the bed when they could not locate the rat. They brought out their Bibles and began to recite Psalm
24:
"The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pasture; he leadeth me beside still waters
He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me..."
They read the whole Psalm over and over again until they slept off till the following day without any night creature visiting them.
In the morning, the woman who dropped from the sky was brought to the court.
The court was full of spectators. Everyone had come to confirm if it was real.
Many said they would not believe such a story until they see the woman with their eyes and she confirms the story herself. Many of those who sat amongst the spectators were members of the academic community. There were professors and Ph. D holders who considered the story a bizarre and unfit for critical minds. Virtually all the departments at the University of Freedomtown came. There were people from the department of Philosophy, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. There were also legal experts who wanted to know the outcome of a landmark case that would determine whether metaphysics was admissible in court.
Those in the department of aeronautics wanted to know how it was possible for some humans to go on flights without the use of aircraft. The food scientists were equally interested in finding out if it was true and if the food consumed by the accused would tune her body to that of birds and make her fly. The most prominent among the professors present was Dr. Clerk Kiosvocalski, an erudite professor who had always been on television to criticize traditional beliefs. He was a nuclear physicist at the university and he had studied in Europe and America. Before entering the court, Dr. Kiosvocalski addressed a press conference where he lampooned everyone who said that it was possible for someone to fly and crash into a building from the sky.
"It is not possible, men! Kiosvocalski said.
"What do you think happened?" Asked a journalist.
"While I do not want to be contemptuous of the court, I will answer you as it relates to intellectualism. This is a modern age and I do not think we should welcome primitive ideas that are fit for the Middle Age. One of the things that I want the court to determine is the possibility of humans, without feathers, to engage in a flight in the sky. Besides, I will also like to see if humans have the organs that can propel them to take off and land and what makes them to crash. Could it be faulty organs, lack of aviation fuel or faulty engine?" He asked amidst thunderous laughter by the pressmen and members of the public who had come to watch the court proceeding.
The trial began later. The judge came and everyone stood up to accord him respect. He sat down and urged everyone in court to sit. John and Hain were also in court to observe the proceedings. Everyone in Freedomtown was curious about this case. Buffalo was in the court with some of his friends. The accused woman was actually Buffalo's friend. Both of them belonged to the same nocturnal club. They also came to the court to give her solidarity support. Dr.Kiosvocalski was obviously in high spirit amongst the spectators in the court. The woman was asked to step into the dock and her charges were read to her.
"Are you guilty or not?" Asked the prosecutor.
"I am not guilty my lord," the woman answered.
After her pleas were taken, she was given a bail. The case was adjourned. As Buffalo walked up to the prosecutor to sign the bail bond, Dr. Kiosvocalski stroke his beard and walked towards the press.
"I will be willing to follow this case to the highest court in the land no matter what it will cost me," said Kiosvocalski.
When the second hearing of the case began, people again crowded the courtroom to watch the trial of the woman who was said to have crashed into the church premises when she was on a nocturnal flight. Dr. Kiosvocalski who spoke to the press earlier that morning on the trial also sat to watch the unfolding events with some of his graduate students. The woman on trial stood in the dock as the case was called. Members of the nocturnal club including Buffalo, their head also sat in the court to see how one of their members was to be tried. The members of the club hired the lawyer who stood to defend the woman.
The trial itself that day had all the dramatic trappings that anyone could imagine with such a bizarre case. Journalists who sat in the media section scribbled all their experiences away as the case progressed. When the judge entered the courtroom, everyone rose as a mark of respect for him. The spectators later sat down after the court sergeant had instructed them to do so. The prosecuting attorney read the case to the hearing of the accused woman and her lawyer. The prosecutor narrated to the court once again how the woman was arrested after crashing into the premises of a court during a flight one night. He requested the judge to send the woman to jail because of her strange flight so as to serve as a deterrent to others who may wish to torment innocent people the city in future through such absurd flights.
"Never in the history of this city has a woman physically crashed from the sky," the prosecutor submitted.
He later tendered the statement written by the woman to the court. This statement was marked as an exhibit. At this juncture, the judge interrupted the prosecution.
"What did the defendant say was responsible for her alleged flight and crash?" Asked the judge.
"Your honor, her excuses are very conflicting in the statement she wrote. We actually have two statements in our file. In the first one, she admitted that she crashed when she was on a nocturnal flight with other members of her group. In the second statement, she wrote that she was going somewhere with her colleagues when one of them mistakenly pushed her into the premises of the church and she broke some of their items," said the prosecution.
"Can you read her statement to the court?" The judge demanded.
The prosecutor read the statement to the bewildered court and spectators. The particular area that drew thunderous laughter was where the accused wrote that she was a victim of persecution.
She wrote rhetorically in the second statement: "I do not have wings. Only birds have wings and they are the ones that are capable of flying. I am a human being and not a bird. I cannot understand why a human being is being accused of flying when she is not a bird."
"Exactly. That's my own stand point," whispered Dr. Kiosvocalski.
The defense attorney was later called upon to present their case. The court listened with rapt attention as the defense presented the case in a logical manner. The attorney argued that his client was a human being created by God without wings and as such could not fly.
"Only birds can fly, your honor," he submitted.
"But the prosecution has alleged that she crashed on the roof of a church," the judge interrupted.
"Your honor, the crash the plaintiff spoke about could have come from anywhere. From a rock, the wind, an object from space or the Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO). They did not see her while crashing and there is no picture indicating that my client was actually the one that crashed through the roof of the church as purported by the plaintiff," said the defense attorney.
There was murmuring in the court.
"She was an Identified Flying Object," Whispered someone amongst the spectators.
Buffalo and other members of the nocturnal club were very happy at the way the defense lawyer was arguing the case. They looked in his direction and gave him an approving smile. This inspired the lawyer. He looked at the judge and later the prosecutor and asked some questions which was to rubbish the position of the plaintiff.
"What are you?" Asked the woman's lawyer.
"Your honor, what kind of question is this?" Asked the prosecuting lawyer.
"Just answer me?" Asked the woman's lawyer.
"I am a human being of course," answered the prosecutor.
"Thank you very much. You have answered. You are human being. Can you fly?" Asked the woman's lawyer
"I do not have wings and I cannot fly. I am not your client," answered the prosecuting lawyer.
"Your honor, he said he does not have wings because he is a human being and as such he cannot fly. My client in the dock has been a victim of persecution. I wonder how she could have flown when she does not have wings and feathers," said the woman's lawyer.
The whole court roared into laughter. Dr. Kiosvocalski was very excited at the submission of the defense lawyer. The defense knew at this juncture that he has outsmarted the prosecution and it was the right time to end his submission. The court asked both of them to take a date for the next adjournment when the judgment would be delivered.
On the day of the judgment, the court was very full again. It took the judge one hour to read his judgment to an audience that was very eager to know the outcome of this kind of spectacular trial. The judge said that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt that the woman had wings on the day of the alleged crash and actually flew. He said that he believed the woman could not be the one that actually flew and crashed into the roof of the church and that the crash may have been caused by other foreign objects in the sky or space.
The judge said that he believed however that the woman was the one that was found on the floor of the church and as such she should pay for the damages done to structures and materials within the church.
"She will have to pay for the damages done to the glass tables and wares in the church. Since the congregation was not looking up when the prayers were going on, no one actually saw the defendant with wings and feathers crashing into the roof. She is hereby discharge and acquitted on the count that she engaged in nocturnal flight."
"We will repair the damage done to the building," whispered Buffalo to other members of the nocturnal club as the woman was led out of the dock.
The members were very happy that the accused was set free. There was murmuring everywhere in the court.
"The law is really an Ass!" Said Dr. Kiosvocalski.
The crowd was more divided over the judgment than before as they walked out of the court. They argued for and against the judgment. Members of the nocturnal club walked up to the woman and embraced her. They went to her attorney and shook his hands. The media later went to the woman to interview her and Dr. Kiosvocalski.
"The judge is a very smart person. I feel that in this case, there are no victors and vanquished," said Dr. Kiosvocalski.
©2002 StoriesByEmail.com
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