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Flower Babies

Beauts

Rock and roll will never die
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
Location
London, United Kingdom
Hello. I've never really shared anything I've written here and I don't have any particular reason for doing so now except, well, I actually wrote this after a particularly weird shoutbox conversation a few months ago. It started off as some kind of weird surrealist fable but it kind of met Dr Seuss and became a kind of children's story with a moral message. It's weird and doesn't make any sense or follow a strict format but it was quite fun to write despite it not being how I usually would write/ a totally different style and basically had very little effort put into it (written off the top of my head in less than an hour) so it's kind of choppy....I hope you like it :S

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Flower Babies


With a crash and a bang, Snap Dragon came flying down the slide and into his twin sister Tiger Lily’s bedroom.

“Wake up!” He yelled, “We have things to do!” Tiger Lily, who had orange hair, looked at her brother through half-closed eyes.

“We don’t have anything to do! It’s Saturday!”

“Lot’s to do, lot’s to do, get out of bed, let’s go and find Mum!” Snap Dragon opened the trap door and went shooting down the pole to the kitchen below. Tiger Lily rolled her eyes and followed her brother more slowly. She could already tell there was a day of drama and chaos ahead.

The twins’ mum, Hyacinth, was already up and fussing around their pet Venus Fly Trap, Monkey Puzzle. Monkey Puzzle was hissing and spitting in his little blue plant pot, angry that Hyacinth was trying to force a big pink ribbon around his neck. Snap Dragon was already sitting at the table, teasing up his purple pompadour with a comb.

“Tiger Lily, there you are! Are you ready to begin?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, little brother.” Tiger Lily rolled her eyes again.

“I’m only younger by six minutes,” Snap Dragon frowned, “And anyway, I told you, we have things to do!”

“You should eat your breakfast first.” The twin’s dad, Calathium, said firmly as he came into the room through the hole in the floor.

“But we have things to do!” Snap Dragon protested fiercely, but Calathium just shook his head. The twins ate their breakfast of popcorn, with Tiger Lily tossing pieces over to Monkey Puzzle, who made appreciative dribbling and munching noises. Hyacinth didn’t eat, instead too busy fixing her tall, pink, curly hair. Snap Dragon grabbed Tiger Lily and pulled her through the curtain leading to the woods outside.

“Where are we going?” Tiger Lily demanded.

“You wait and see!” Snap Dragon replied. They travelled through the Wailing Woods, where the birds sang and the leaves shook. They walked and walked ‘til the house was out of sight and ahead of them was the gate that led to the Outside World.

“We aren’t supposed to go out there.” Tiger Lily said.

“We have to go out there, we have-“

“-Things to do.” Snap Dragon’s sister finished for him. He nodded vigorously and opened the gate, which squeaked and made the birds flutter away. There before them lay the town, full of spinning spaceships and big brown buildings, and in the middle of it, a park. In the park were other children, but not children like Tiger Lily had seen before. They weren’t Flower Babies like them at all, but still they smiled and played and laughed and ran.

Snap Dragon bravely led the way, entering the park. He approached a little boy on the swings:

“What’s your name?”

“My name is John.”

“What a strange name,” Tiger Lily remarked, “Didn’t your parents worry you’d get picked on?” John looked at the twins oddly.

“What are your names then?” John wanted to know.

“My name is Snap Dragon and this is Tiger Lily. We’re twins we come from the Wailing Woods.”

“I’ve always been told I should never go there; all of the Woods are filled with tigers and bears.”

“I’m a tiger; a Tiger Lily. But I’ve never seen a bear.” Tiger Lily said patiently.

“I’m afraid of tigers!” The boy John started to sniffle, “Stay away from me you freaks!” Snap Dragon and Tiger Lily looked at each other, mystified by this unexpected turn of events. They’d never heard the word ‘freak’ in their life. John ran away and the twins watched him go, but his legs couldn’t hold all his panic. John fell down and all the other kids laughed.

“What was it you wanted to do next?” Tiger Lily asked her brother, a little confused.

“Follow me! Follow me!” Snap Dragon called cheerfully. He led the way towards a sandpit, where a little girl was digging with a bucket and spade. The girl’s hair was yellow but not the vibrant kind; a sort of faded out blonde surrounding her pale blue eyes. Tiger Lily stared at the girl like she’d never seen one before, and the girl stared in surprise at Snap Dragon’s purple pompadour.

“Who are you?” Snap Dragon asked the girl.

“My name is Jessica.” The girl replied. Once again the twins exchanged a look- did all parents beyond the gate give their kids these strange names?

“What are you building?” Tiger Lily inquired.

“A castle,” said Jessica, “Like the one the princess lives in…”

“What is a castle?” Snap Dragon interrupted.

“What is a princess?” Tiger Lily wanted to know. Neither of them knew anything of royalty or rank- both of them came from quite a different sort of world. When the little girl explained about princesses living in castles and waiting for princes, the twins started to laugh ‘til they were almost in tears: “That’s the silliest thing I ever did hear! Isn’t it more important to know that your family love you and will support you wherever you go?”

“Why would you want to live in such a big cold box, when the world outside is full of happiness and light and warmth?” Snap Dragon couldn’t believe his ears- what silly kind of children did they have out here? Jessica started to cry and her mother came rushing over.

“These two are being mean!” She pointed at their continued laughter. The mother glared and took Jessica away. Tiger Lily looked down at her feet, where the sand had gotten between her toes.

“I think it’s time we ought to be getting back.”

“Not yet,” Snap Dragon said, “Just one more thing, then after that.” The twins went over to the big yellow slide, where many children climbed up and went rushing down on the ride.

“Wouldn’t you like to have a turn?” One boy asked, “It’s fun and it’s free and a bit of a laugh!”

“But I don’t want a bit of a laugh, I want a whole one.” Tiger Lily frowned, but Snap Dragon kicked her.

“They’re just being nice, it won’t hurt to join in!” He berated his sister, before joining in. He climbed up the ladder and then at the top, he sat down and looked at his feet, then the ground beyond. It was a little bit scary up here and Snap Dragon wondered if he had something to fear. But then with a giggle, a push and a shove, he went whooshing down and at the bottom, came to a stop. Grinning from ear to ear, he turned to his sister, “Tiger Lily, over here!” But Tiger Lily was gone, nowhere to be seen. What’s going on? Where did she go? But a few seconds later, he thought, ‘I know!’

But then with a kick and a pain in his back, Tiger Lily slammed into her brother at the bottom of the slide!

“What are you doing? You knew I was here!”

“You were too slow! It was my turn!” Tiger Lily yelled, loud and clear.

“Now you’ve hurt me!” Snap Dragon retorted, “That isn’t fair!” He snorted.

“Do you think it was fair to drag me all the way here, with all of these vile children bursting into tears?” With a gasp the surrounding crowd parted, and there at the end of them- the two twins started!- were Hyacinth and Calathium!

“Oh, Flower Babies, we told you not to go looking for trouble in the outside world.” Calathium shook his head, disappointed, “There are things beyond the gate that won’t do you any good.”

“But we had things to do- I told you we did!” His father looked upon Snap Dragon’s purple pompadour.

“Was fighting with your sister a good idea? Was making John run away and Jessica cry so very dear that you just couldn’t wait ‘til you were a little bit older, with the knowledge to understand that the Outside World is much colder than the snowiest snow in the Wailing Woods- or the spiteful-est bite Monkey Puzzle could give you?”

“Don’t shout at them dear,” Hyacinth interrupted, to the twins’ surprise, “At least now this cruel world has opened their eyes.”

“It’s true, father, this is a horrible place!” Tiger Lily agreed.

“We’ll never come back here, there’s simply no need!” Snap Dragon and Tiger Lily stared at their father, begging him to forgive them and give them no bother. Luckily, Calathium began to smile:

“Okay, this time, I know it was worthwhile for you to disobey and learn your lesson; but don’t do it again, are you going to listen?”

“Yes, now let’s go home,” Snap Dragon said, “We have more things to do before going to bed!”
 

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