The Adventures Of Little Sham - Chapter 7 (Part 3)

 

 

The Adventures Of  Little Sham  

A Novel

by Paul McCann

 

Chapter  Seven

The Land Of Silken Dreams  

Part 3

 

Before I take you to meet JJ , otherwise known as King Rat . I must tell you a few things about him . There are many rats who come and go here , there and everywhere . Rats are survivors , they scavange, they steal, they also clean up in their own way the places were they live . Rats are everywhere and yet unseen but there is only one rat who is King .  Without him they would be scattered and alone . King Rat keeps them living happily in a pack m because of him they are tribal .  

He make them cool , they are nobodys fool , they rock , they party , they dance and sing and they tribal urban dwellers of the green zone .”

 The spider placed Sham on its back and began to make a passage through webs climbing and  weaving around empty spaces as if it were stitching fragments of unseen walls . Up and down and around and around , inside and outside until they found a doorway where Vincy said

“Here we are now at the doorway to the green sector . I need to remove the shut down mode before we can go inside”

Vincy pushed the switch ousuide the front door that automatically opened up to a corridor that was illuminated ina soft green light all the way down to another door that opened up to a land illuminated in purple light .

Vincy tapped the ground eight time with its big hairy legs and from nowhere a tribe of rats appeared  . Some had guitar others saxaphones . There was a drummer and a singer and the green light shone down around them . One of the coolest looking head bopping , feet rocking rats took a microphine and started to rap .

“I’m a rat rapper with a little bit of soul  , there are many rats and every one has a hole , some hide in a bar listening to rock and roll , some go out night fighting with the underground mole , there’s lots of food scraps falling down on the floor and in the silence you will hear them crying for more , we go rat dancing and we blow the night away  , rat pack rock , rat  pack jive , party on and on and all through the night after  everyone has gone .There’s JJ the King Rat with the low dock crew , the scurry street gang with nothing else to do and as long as we’re  happy that’s where we will stay  , Rocking in the hard times , we’re all pretty good at that , jiving and jazzing with little bit of rap , they don’t ask for much down at the dock , just a place where they can do the Rat Pack rock and keep screeching and  scratching as the music plays . In a bar down at the low dock that’s where the rat pack rule, gnawing on the leg of a wooden barstool , looking for some food in the shadows at night , you better leave them alone , if they start to fight ,give them a wide berth and walk away  .

The crowd of rats began to cheer and shout as they all made theire way  over to a

a hill  where a huge rathouse stood with a welcome home sign on the door for anyone who would come and knock .

Vincy softly tapped on the door and called out

‘

 

‘Hello JJ are there there , Its Vincy ?”

The King rat awoke from his sleep and answered the door saying ,

”Vincy what under earth are you doing here at this time of the year whenever it might be in the lkand of silken dreams , .“

Vincy replied ,

“I have someone here who wants to meet you by the name of Sham . He comes from the surface above and he has never been here or seen anything the likes of what we have here before ‘“

 “Well come in then Sham , you’re welcome to stay for a while . Let me tell you  a  story or two “

Sham went inside and Vincy smiled and said

I’ll be back in a little while Sham after I make my report in the ledger of time in the library of recordings in land of silken dreams . Until then enjoy your time here with King Rat in his home “

When Sham went inside the Rathouse he saw there were rooms and tunnels everywhere  . There were also other rats running around carrying things and digging holes and working away furiously .  The next thing Saham knew King Rat was opening a book he took from a shelf and wirth eyes as squinting to see the words in the book he said “

‘Sit yourself down there and let me get you a cup of purple blackberry juice from the cupboard and some soft wafer cheese flakes . Make yourself at home Sham . I am JJ , King Rat in the land of silkend dreams “

JJ called his servants to bring food and drink for Sham who was seated at a table in the middle of the busy muddle in the room where many rats went scurrying around .

Up and down the tunnels they came and went as King rat looked through the pages in his book .

‘We once were the rats who lived in the ghettos where business people fought to  stay alive and poor people starved . There was not many who cared about the unfortunates and life was hard , Working class people lost their jobs and were deserted by their employers who lived the good life making business while the sun shone around them in their tropical holiday resorts . We were the rats of the ghette amd we moved around observing everything in quiet unseen places . The more we saw , the more we began to dispise those who were living the good life at the cost of the poor . We wanted to help if we could so we found friends with the homeless who slept in cardboard boxes , under the bridges and insoide shop doorways .

We were like them in many ways homeless and hungry so we larned to accept each other . Night after night we stuck together to fight for the right to survive .

Every rat pack had a leader and I was the first elected leader of the roof pack . We live on the roof of the old hospital that had been abandoned  . I was known as JJ  King Rat and if you never accepted the roof rat code you were pushed back out into the rat race of cardboard city were anarchy ruled and bedlam was the everyday way of life . The going was hard out there so most of the rats stayed on the roof and accepted the code that was understood by all . While we became strong in numbers other ratpacks were struggling to survive and the streets were a polace without mercy and hope . We watched and waited the business people who came and went with their briefcases , dressed in their business suits and cared for no one but themselves . We started outr plan to disrupt and destroy those who lived in their ivory towers . We found thei stashs of cash and eat as much as we could . We made our way into their businesses eating through their cables and causing havoc with their camers and computers . One by one , we overrun the city offices . The arats of the ghetteo had moved in and pulled down their ivory towers and their fancy city apartments . Ijn the end the rich and wealthy left the city that we now controlled ,

The rich who remained could not regain their wealth and the ghetto rats ate the food from their tables and slowly but surely we saw the wealthy become like beggars at the door of the refuges and shelters around the city .Begging for  money , clothes and food . Now they understood what life was all about .

After that we had decided to run away and leave the city to rebuild itself with the need to share with one another all they had .

That’s when I found a tunnel and discovered a world where no one had ever been .

I was the one who went down underground into the depths gar below the pavements

and buildings  to where I found this place  the land of silken dreams ,

Since that day many of us have come to live here covered in a blanket of purple light that surrounds us everywhere . This is our home now and we are happy here .

We have no desire to return tio the surface above but we hope that those who are there now are more considerate to one aniother .
We have  found anew life underground far away from the stench of sewers and the drench of rains and snow . We brought our lives here underground , we found a home . Now we are building a network tunnel system here that is the first of its kind anywhere on the planet . Every tunnel is interconnected to provide a home for packs in the future that may come . Its no a hide out . it’s a comfortable place to live and become part of the breed who want to help one another . It is warm and dry here and there is nothin g to fear here . We work together and we live together in a place  where we are bothered by no one . there is a code and here in the underground I am known as King Rat  . No one has ever questioned my reign . We lead a different life  now and we don’t need to fight to exist . We have a right to live and survive .
So we are the rats who ran away. We are the survivors amd we look after eachother and here is where hope can live “

Vincy returned and knocke upon King Rats door  .

“Its time to go now Sham . Be aware that there’s no time to spare because the hole above is beginning to close and we must get you back on your way :”

Sham said goodbye and thanks King Rat for the story . Vincy reached out and lifted Sham upon his back and began to weave its web of many patterns upwards and onwards until they reached the surface above .

“ Will I ever see you again ?”

Sham asked the spider who replied ,

“‘Well I can’t make any promises but who knows when everything and everyone has been and gone anjd the sun has left where it once shone ,maybe there is a chance who knows I suppose , anything is possible , never despair because hope is there and where ever there is hope that is where King Rat and I can be found . “

The spider shojnmer a bright light form its eyes along the path the door where Sham had to go . As Sham walked away the hole in the ground was starting toi close .

Sham left the land of silken dreams behind and walked through the door to the ladder where he climber up to the room in the storytellers cottage .

Replacing the treasure chest over the trapdoor , Sham left the cottage and walked down the street to the guesthouse where he checked his watch and saw time had not passes since he left . He went quietly up stair and into his bedroom were he got under the blankets and fell fast asleep .

 

End of Chapter 7

 

Chapter 8

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/adventures-little-sham-chapter-8...

 

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