Warmth

It sat in a corner of the verandah, shivering in the chill morning air. How it had survived the cold and cruel night was a wonder in itself. A creature of the sun, it had found itself lost and alone when the rest of its tribe had migrated to warmer climes.

Although it was hungry, the bottle that the milkman had placed on the top step, temptingly near, was yet too cold to hold much appeal.
As the sun climbed slowly up the morning sky, its rays gradually dispelling the gray gloom of the housefront, the creature unfurled a tiny tentacle and reached tentatively, yet longingly, for the expanding patch of sunlight on the cool tiles. It shivered again, but this time in delight.

A sudden movement from the house sent it scuttling back to the safety of the remotest corner of the verandah, quickly changing hue to blend in with the mottled gray of the floor. As it waited, three tiny hearts beating in trepidation, a human came out of the building and swept up the bottle of milk. Then the door shut again.

But not before the creature had felt the difference in temperature between the outside and the interior of the human residence. Inside. There lay the key to survival.

But the morning was advancing, and with it, the ambient temperature was growing more comfortable. It crept back towards the edge of the verandah, lured by the golden glow of sunlight. What bliss! But if only it could find something to appease the pangs of hunger.

Another sudden movement, accompanied by a loud noise, startled it so much that it slid off the verandah and would have slopped down onto the still-dewy lawn had it not grabbed hold of the railings with three of its tentacles. Hanging there precariously, it waited in fear to interpret the meaning of all the commotion.

One of the humans had come outside and was now sitting on the top step making slurping noises. The sound revived the creature’s own hunger, and peeping cautiously over the edge of the verandah, it saw the human set down a receptacle beside them as they proceeded to manipulate some papery material in their hands, which made rustling sounds. The receptacle was lifted up again and the slurping noises were repeated.

By now, curiosity and hunger had gotten the better of it, so the creature swung itself up onto the verandah, still keeping itself flat and colourless against the dull tiles. It could feel the heat from the container, smell the tantalising aroma of something fresh and potable, and each of its three little hearts beat to the siren song of “Food… Warmth… Life…”
It crawled towards the source of temptation.

Whoosh. Away went the cup again as the human swiped it upwards for another swig.

The creature paused, and was not disappointed, since soon enough, the human set the mug down again as they fiddled with the papery, rustly things in their hands.

Inch by tiny inch, one tentative tentacle after another, it moved surreptitiously towards sustenance. Again, the cup was swept upwards, but once more, it was set down.

Just as the creature reached its target, changing colour to match the pink porcelain, the human made a sudden movement, knocking the cup over. With a loud exclamation of annoyance and a lot of hullabaloo, they got up, gathering the rustly, papery things, and stomped back into the house.

The creature had frozen in fear and shock, but once the coast was clear, it dawned on it that the source of the food it had been longing for, was also gone! An overwhelming sense of despondency flooded its tiny being, its translucent little body turning gray-green in disappointment, the colour of a garden on a foggy dawn.

But something was different.

The strong aroma had not vanished with the food and the human. It remained, to assail the creature’s consciousness. Turning to focus its gaze on the place where the cup had been, its hearts leaped in delight – Dark brown, still-warm, sticky sweetness lay in a cluster of tiny puddles. Joy, Oh joy!

Tiny tongues first licked cautiously, then lapped greedily at the quickly coagulating brew. Only a few ounces, but it was food – and life – and warmth.

Had the human chanced to come out at that moment, they would have seen what looked like a tiny pool of liquid sunlight, quivering and dancing and shimmering.

The creature had just experienced a caffeine high.