Tales From The Village

    “How is it you’ve never escaped?” It was a question I had not asked myself, well not for quite a while. I suppose it’s something you get used to, the village, it’s easy to get used to something when you live it every day. And eventually you learn to accept and settle down, once you’ve learned there’s no way out! And when you think about it there’s only so many ways one can attempt to escape, especially if one is limited by the lack of skills, such as navigation, or the inability to pilot a helicopter for example. It’s easy to know what not to try, the difficult part is to come up with a plan that’s got have more than half a chance of succeeding! Oh there was one chap who organized an escape group, each member of the group had a different skill that he or she could bring to the escape plan. It still failed, well it came down to a matter of trust, someone had to be in charge you see, and that was the person who came up with the plan in the first place. He had to give the orders to see that the plan was carried out correctly, that nothing was left to chance. But it was that air of authority that let the plan down, a question of trust you see. But then no plan is full-proof, and that’s mostly why escape plans fail! But it’s true that everyone tries to escape when their spirit’s broken and some see it as the duty of every prisoner to try and escape at some point. One or two have escaped but they have always been brought back, although not always alive. It’s the Guardian you see it’s always on patrol, and you can’t outrun it, and if you fight back when it attacks you, the damn things like a balloon, it offers no resistance! Someone attempted to prick it with a darning needle thinking it would burst like a balloon. But it didn’t.

     Anyway I’m too old now for escape, I’m happy to live out my days here in the Old People’s Home. All my needs are catered for, and there’s always a game of chess on offer from the General, or if the weather’s set fair the Admiral and I go sailing aboard the boat, although he assures me she good in any weather. There he is now, “Ahoy Admiral” I shout and wave. “Anyway I’ve got to go now; the Admiral will be weighing the anchor in a few minutes.”

    And off he went the silly old fool, if he thought anyone could go sailing in a stone boat then they are off their heads! But then the madness began, with the sails set and the Admiral at the wheel, the stone boat broke away from the quayside and sailed away into the estuary. No-one could believe their eyes as we stood staring at the vessel which had been part of the quay now sailing away out towards the sea. The silver grey helicopter took off and gave chase; it circled the vessel like a gnat in the vain hope of stopping or slowing the vessel which was now in the mouth of the estuary with the wide open sea ahead of it. A pair of speed boats also set off in pursuit, and there was a sudden disturbance in the water as a white sphere shot through the surface and went skimming across the sea towards the approaching the Stone Boat. But what could it possibly do? What happened next you might ask, as the helicopter continued to circle, the two speed boats finally catching up and then…..and then……….I woke up!

Be seeing you