Four stories

Four stories

A Dilemma
Chameleons (taken from ‘Miniatures’)
Statistician (taken from ‘Miniatures’)
The Magic Carpet (taken from ‘Miniatures’)

They used to be in forests, hanging from small branches, napping on leaves. They cut through the air with their tongues like arrows, effortlessly and voicelessly. Anything smaller than them was their prey. They were everything: a stone, a tree-bark, a dried leaf. They were patient and voracious, even more than they needed to come to the top of food chain. For hours they would pretend to be something else, turning – like magic – one moment into a grass bush, another moment into an ant-hill. Their heart would beat only as much as it should, their breath was shallow, short and invisible. But the eyes… Those gluttonous drifters, like mill-stones, have no rest. Only the eyes, those traitor round balls on the face, only them could reveal all those fantastic masks.
Then they came among us. They are now in cities, in houses, in parliaments. They are everywhere. They are our neighbours, army leaders, our Best Men, our lovers… Because of them, no one can tell a friend from an enemy, good from evil, virtues from flaws. Present chameleons have skin for every occasion, and they change it as needed. They learn and adapt very fast. Sometimes they don’t even steak out for their prey, but hunt along as they walk. They gather up, forming flocks and setting perfidious traps on the thin line between a dream and reality. Their appetites grow progressively, while deceptions used to confuse the prey are becoming more and more complex, closing to perfection. However, it is still possible to avoid the trap, tell the deception from reality, and save oneself. In order to discover chameleons in good time, you need to know just one thing: They will never look you in the eyes!

AuthorBerislav Blagojević.
2018-08-21T17:22:55+00:00 December 21st, 2009|Categories: Prose, Literature, Blesok no. 69|0 Comments