Listen Now By Doctor Hidleheim

I made you to listen, Craug, so listen now. You are in a cage, so try not to move too much.

There is a small town in the woods, wrapped in a lazy fog. There has always been a fog in the woods but in the town it was thicker than in any part of the woods. There were 111 buildings in the town. First, were the 78 warehouses full of old bits of machinery in large piles and the warehouses lined up all together in rows of six by 13. There were three big buildings: the town hall, the zoo, and the school. Then, last but not least, was the circle of houses around a large park.

There were 30 houses and each house was different in some way. Some were short, some were tall, some wide, some were long, and some made no sense at all. In every house there was a family and each family had at least two adults, one child and a stuffed animal for every child.

Each family was very different in many ways. Every person was also different in name and skin. One person’s skin was white, one’s was blue, and one had storm clouds. And one had skin like a crocodile. There was a different color and pattern and texture for every person. So there was always excitement when a newborn appeared on someone’s doorstep because everyone wants to see what the baby looked like.

In this small town, everything was different except for house 15 which was the same as house 11, or so the inhabitants thought. For while house 15 had a basement like house 11, under the basement of house 15 was a lab and that in that lab is me, Doctor Hidleheim.

I am also very different compared to my children who live in the town for I have a body of patches like you would see on an old shirt and in some places my stitching is ripped and my stuffing sticks out. My body is large and has three segments. In the first segment are my 13 legs which drag the rest of me around my lab. On the second segment are some of my arms. I have six on each side and 12 in the middle and back. The third segment has just as many arms as the middle. But in the middle of this segment is my head, surrounded by a ring of 12 arms.

I work almost all the time, except for when sleep, for I get tired in this dark place. The only light down here is the occasional light bulb, torch, and burst of sparks. I do not know how long I sleep for I grew tired of my clock long ago or it was just yesterday, I can’t tell. Oh well, the clock was boring. So I gave it legs and let it walk around and then I gave hands to swing form wire to wire. It must look lovely in my zoo with my other living projects. I have finished all but my longest projects and have taken to writing. I write books for my children, describing their home and the creatures in the zoo. Maybe, I need more things to work on. Maybe, I should send some of my creations out of the woods to bring me more wonderful things from the rest of the world. They can bring me new bits of flesh and bone and metal to work on for it takes so long for me to grow and make them. I apologize. I am rabbling away all your time here. Let me show you my latest project. It will be finished to night. It is big and strong and that is all I will tell you about it until you see it.

Come along now Quzog and Mafga. We need to take your new friend to section 115 to see Fwad. Do you know why I originally made you Craug? I made you to live in Mafga but then I realized, what is the point of having something in a cage if it’s not interesting? So, I made you pretty to look at and then I gave you something to make you different from the others, which is necessary in everything I make, you know. So, because I liked to speak to you, I made smart, so you will know what I am saying to you and remember.

Here is Fwad’s room. Now, I will awaken him for you to hear him. He seems hungry and it took so long to make him, I just can’t leave him hungry. I might forget him and I hate to lose something so soon. I guess I could give him Quzog but he is so small and thin. Yes, I know what I will do. I will give you to Fwad. I made extra of you just in case you were unstable. Here you go Fwad, your first meal.