h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The text below is an artistic version of the story "Gimme Shelter". It's made by a member of the music group, to use it for their new album. Name of the group; 21 eyes of Ruby.

Black Bird
a short story inspired by "Gimme Shelter" (alfredo)
By Mark Courage

Part 1.

Only few parts of the walls were covered with different kinds of wallpaper. A long time had already gone by, before the boy took this room on the attic, his hiding place. Emptiness had driven him to seek comfort in painting words on the flaking walls: "Wherever your treasure is, there will be your heart".

This message he had given himself, to forget his loneliness, to neglect his homesickness, to deny his precious but misfortunate past.
Outside, on a small branch, a black bird spoke and sang of true beauty, waking the boy every morning with its songs and sermons.
While months went by, the boy obsessively attempted to seek forgiveness for his destructive tendency.



The room functioned as a cocoon, giving the boy just enough air and sunlight to breathe, to grow into a person... a man…


(muzikaal intermezzo)



In his flight, the man threw off the cocoon’s shell, leaving behind the bird and the boy, in search for his treasure. He wandered around restlessly, living his life between sunset and sunrise.

As his body desired more and more of the filthy substances he poured down his veins, his mind became a sewer, filled with mud, dirt and rats, crawling and littering around in his head.

The small black bird took care of the naked boy, who was lying on the floor, gasping for breath. He could only move his eyes and the bird fed him, like a mother bird feeding her youngsters, keeping his soul alive.
(21Eor song)

2.
One night, years after the cocoon had burst, the black bird flew restlessly through the attic. The boy opened his eyes and experienced an unusual sensation inside.

The bird’s panic frightened him, but at the same time he felt a comforting shiver down his spine.

He discovered he could move again, and gently he got up.
Slowly he floated to the window, and there, outside, the man broke down on his knees, crying.
When the boy opened the window, the man looked up, and their eyes met. “I’m Glad you’ve not forgotten me” the boy said, and he jumped out of the window.

As the rain started to fall heavily, the man left the house, the street, the town, with a black bird on his shoulder, and the boy, his treasure in his arms.