Aleen and Iz...short short story by a Katja
“Aleen! Aleen! Take your sister and go to the market with this pig of ours! See that you get SOMETHING out of her!” Aleen looked up from his model flying machine to where his mother was waving at him through the window. He stuffed his machine in its sack and hefted it over his shoulder. “Aye, mama,” the boy called and strolled over to his sister playing nearby. “Come along Iz.”; he said, taking her hand and trudging to the barn where the pig in question was routing around.
Along the winding path to the market, they spotted an old man looking torn and worn, though Iz could see a hint of something glistening every time the man moved. As they grew closer, the man shouted, “Oy! That’s a find hog; you got there! Where be you taking the beaut?” Iz shuffled closer to her brother but answered bravely, “To market, good sir. We mean to sell her.”
”Sell her, you say!” The old man said. “Well, might an old worn weary traveler rest upon her back to this place, which you are going?” Aleen, curious about the blue glistening through the traveler’s rags of a coat, answered politely, “The road is long and rough, though my father works tirelessly to make it safe and smooth. We have no harness to hold you with, sir.” The stranger gave a sharp toothless grin and noted the sack, the boy was holding. “I’ll use what’s in that sack of yours, boy, and all will be well.” The children hesitated a moment longer, but as their mama taught them to respect their elders, Aleen took out his model flying machine and handed it to the man, and Iz held out her little hand to steady him onto the pig. With the tail end fastened about the pig’s head and the front end as the seat, the flying machine created its new purpose the three set off.
As the sea meets the land, the road forked, and the stranger bade the children stop. Here he gave them a small bag he pulled from the pocket he strapped to his belt for their trouble and a tip to seek him by the water’s edge if they ever needed him. The child agreed but stared wonderingly as he set off towards the sea. For as he did, his gait grew steadier, his weary appearance faded, and just before he was out of sight, they caught a hint of vibrant rays of the blue from him, sparkling from his head down to his toes.
Back home, the children rushed to their mother’s side. “Well then.” said she, “What did that old pig give us!?!” Aleen pulled off the sack from his shoulder and upturned the bag. Falling from the pocket was not only the boy’s model, and the payment of the old sow, but also the pouch the stranger gave them and from that pouch clattered five old beans. “Beans!” the mother cried, clutching the coins the pig gave her. “What’d they give you beans for!!?!” Iz excitedly told their mother the tale of their journey and the old stranger with the hint of shining blue. ‘“Well then,” her father said, coming from the doorway with his catch of crab, “we must be doubly lucky, your mother taught you kindness as we now have coin and crop!” The children cheered and rushed out the door to plant their good fortune. For you see, those old beans had a hint of shining blue in their sprouts, and the family soon learned what it meant. Thus, their story started, and thus, their story has ended.
