Homesick

4702 awakened to another beautiful day. The uneven floorboards left a pleasant throbbing in his back and a protruding nail caressed him as it pulled from his shoulder, scratching a line of blood as he eagerly rose to his knees. He couldn’t wait to get started! Sleep always left him with a mild feeling of anxious energy that he was eager to work off on the wheel. Today, just like yesterday, he stood in awe of the beauty that surrounded him and amazement at his good fortune. The air was fragrant with the lovely scent of his comrades. They were a close family. They slept above him, below him, and beside him, pressing against him in a constant hug. He smelled their sweat and the aroma of their waste. This was camaraderie itself. It was the smell of his brothers and sisters. This was the sweet smell of home!

The others were getting up, too. The few necessary hours of sleep had passed and they could once again set out to work! The entire floor erupted with movement as the Brethren rose in unison to greet the new shift. Shaggy rodents scurried away into the floor, joyfully sharing in their part of the morning routine. 4702 scratched gleefully at the itches they left on his skin, as did the others. He first got the itches only a few days ago and was pleased to be able to join his brothers in this morning ritual. Like the others, his head itched from the tiny insects that flew and crawled about his hair and buzzed by his ears when he was still. It was a pleasant sound, like a precious secret being whispered to him. A secret about the joy they all shared as Brethren!

Two of his brothers did not emerge from sleep that morning. They had died during the night with gleeful coughing sounds that 4702 vaguely remembered hearing. The others looked them over, deciding whose turn it would be to deliver them to the Masters. What an honor it would be to actually see the great ones! To be able to give them something! This was, of course, not as great an honor as that enjoyed by the two. They had the final honor of being delivered after a life of service. They would serve their Masters forever in death!

As the newest member of the group, 4702 might have been allowed to carry a body, but he had already been granted an extra few hours on the wheel the day before, and such joys were rare. But, as these deaths were common, he, like the others, would have more chances at glory. Also, with two missing, there would be more opportunities to serve the Masters in the yard.

They marched off, eager to take breakfast and get out to work! The food was good, of course, but it kept them from the yard, so the line moved quickly. 4702 beamed at the smell of the oozing eggs, so pleasantly rotten, and the stale bread, nicely green with soft mold. He took his turn at the bins, scooping up the feast with his hands and pouring it into his willing mouth. He was careful not to eat too much, however. He didn’t want to quite lose the comfortable hungry feeling he had from the long sleep and the previous day’s work.

With breakfast over, he moved eagerly with the others, sloshing through puddles in the floor left by the night’s rain mingled with urine, and sprinting out to the playground where the wheel awaited. 4702 grinned a deep grin, in love with all he could see!