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Feathered Guts
From all the unusual cases in Yoks, however, there was none stranger than Witz's.
Orphaned, always hungry and mistreated, Witz was shunned everywhere in Yoks. People, so strange, never managed to take pity on the battered figure of the unfortunate boy. What's more, in some public places he was even forbidden to enter. The poor boy, on top of everything else, was decreasing every day. This phenomenon even happened to him in the midst of customers of elegant restaurants and cafes.
Then the panic of the customers for him became so recurrent, that every time they heard screams, Yoks' people said: "Witzy pig again."
Witz had grown about six feet tall by the time he was twelve years old. But after that, he began to slowly decrease every day without knowing why.
His life had become very detestable since then, and the only one who accepted him was a distant cousin named Marcus, who was also homeless.
After another day of not getting food, Marcus was waiting for Witz in the dirtiest little square Yoks had. He recognized him easily by his all dirty and disheveled appearance and said to him:
"I bet we eat corn today, too."
"I don't want it today," Witz replied in annoyance.
"But, boy, from so much corn we fly like chickens tomorrow," Marcus suggested jocularly.
"Fly so we won't come back here? I like it," said little Witz in his squeaky voice.
Marcus laughed for a moment and then pulled from a small, somewhat hollowed-out cloth bag several small piles of corn.
Witz began to eat listlessly, looking up at the sky. After a few minutes he finished his little piles and stood up suddenly.
"What do you want?" asked Witz trying to sound aggressive in his squeaky voice.
"What bad thing will this gentleman decked out in silk robes and shiny rings say to us?" asked confused Marcus.
"If you come to mock us, I'm afraid you'll pay for it, Mr. Richie," shouted Witz waving his hands.
After hearing this, the man accompanying the cousins, smiled. It was a smile of pity. His eyes regarded both young men with mercy, more than anything else.
"Calm down. I'm Brenton, and I just want to give you these freshly baked breads. Take them," the man said in a respectful tone.
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.
"What do you mean?" asked Marcus excitedly.
"Brown rolls," said Brenton extending his arms that carried a pair of wicker baskets filled with delicious, crusty breads.
"I'm sure they're!" exclaimed Marcus sniffing like a bloodhound and with his mouth watering.
"Stop it, Marcus. They look good, but it may just be a trap to our recurrent misfortune," said the little boy holding his excited cousin by the torso.
But there was no way. Marcus went for the baskets like a recently unleashed beast. He took one of them and threw the other to Witz.
Marcus devoured his breads. Witz barely nibbled one, looking askance at the smiling Brenton.
"Sir, what do you want? What can I do for you? Have you seen a hen eating corn and stones alike? I'll show you," Marcus said, putting his body like a hen and throwing crumbs on the ground to peck at them.
"I see hens in bakeries and cafes all the time. Don't worry about it and just keep enjoying every bite," Brenton said with utmost affection.
Brenton was a happy baker as he watched the most rejected of Yoks satiate their hunger.
But soon after Witz had accepted a good deed for him, he got smaller again. Smaller than ever before. Now barely a roll could fit in his tiny mouth.
The astonishment was great, even in Marcus, who had already seen him get smaller several times.
Laying down his basket, Witz ran off in cries.
"Boy, stop it!" said Brenton as if to comfort him.
But Witz only ran faster.
"Silly boy, what are you doing? Here you are Witz. Over there you're just a kernel of corn," said Marcus trying to catch up with him.
None of these calls worked as the little lad disappeared into the bushes that lay just outside Yoks.
Days passed, but there was no trace of Witz. Marcus, always confident, began to scatter some pieces of bread through the bushes. He said:
"A chick can't fly, especially not so hungry."
From time to time he crowed like a rooster to see if Witz listened and came closer. This was first a long wait. Then a feast, for Marcus could not resist eating even the leaves where he had scattered the bread.
For a moment he felt guilty, but soon he laid down to sleep as if nothing had happened from all the food he had eaten. Neither the purple rain nor the strong sun woke him.
But, one day, while Marcus was scaring the birds away with his snoring, there was an explosion.
It was so loud that Marcus sat up in fright, looking around. Soon after he was dumbfounded to see the source of his unwanted alarm clock.
"God bless Yoks!" said Marcus quietly as he saw fish-headed ogres smashing houses here and there.
Marcus thought of Brenton, but also of his own life. He looked sadly at what was happening and said:
"Goodbye, Yoks. Thanks for everything and for nothing."
By the time he turned around to lose himself in endless greenery, Marcus stumbled over something, and a tiny whimper he heard.
It was Witz coming back from where he'd been to curiously see what exploded.
"Silly boy, I was already going to prepare a funeral for you," Marcus said before taking Witz in his hands and stroking his hair.
"Not for me, but for them," Witz said with a helium voice, and pointing at Yoks.
"Come on, it's time to be roosters today," Marcus said.
"What are you talking about?" said Witz in his squeaky tone .
"I'm talking about saving who we can in Yoks."
"Did all the corn in your head make you pop pop pop or what?" asked a hilariously furious Witz to his cousin.
"Chick, if they're gone, there won't even be corn for our coop anymore."
"You're not the one who always comes out humiliated. I won't save them," Witz sentenced, stepping down from Marcus' arms and turning his back on him.
"It's all right, chick. I'll get Brenton."
Right after this, Witz's face lit up. All the rancor that a few seconds ago inhabited Witz's scanty centimeters disappeared.
Both cousins, experts in mischief, trickery and traps, ran back to Yoks like ostriches.
Once they were in their little square, they checked one of the baskets Brenton had given them. It had the address of his bakery.
It wasn't hard for them to get to the place in seconds despite all the super chaos that was knocking the already crazed Yoks down. He knew all the streets by heart from walking them so many times.
They arrived quickly, but...
"For all the feathers on a turkey!" exclaimed Marcus as he watched Brenton's bakery almost get eaten by one of the fish-headed giants.
Unlike his cousin's fright at witnessing this, Witz ran as fast as he could and mounted the giant.
He bit his foot, then his leg, then his torso. So it went until he reached his head, scratched his gills and the fish bubbled and popped.
Before Witz impacted the ground, his cousin caught him, and amid wild laughter said to him:
"What a peck, my rooster!"
Witz smiled incredulously because he still didn't quite know what he had done to defeat the ogre. But his joy was greater when they saw that the other three fish-heads stopped attacking and walked awkwardly. They paced nervously back and forth until one of them collided with their fellows and caused a burst of bubbles all over Yoks.
Out of the iridescent spheres came all the people, houses and other things the ogres had consumed.
"Look, chick, the boss is walking toward us," Marcus said to Witz about his good friend Brenton.
"Mr. Brenton! He's alive and so is his bakery," shouted the little youngster running toward the baker.
To everyone's big surprise, Witz grew as he ran to Brenton. The boy grew back to the six feet he once was.
"Praise the Lord, Witz. You were leavened!" said Brenton in jubilation as he hugged him very hard.
Marcus couldn't contain his excitement either and went to hug him right away.
"Now that's the great Witz rooster I once knew."
In the midst of this joy, Brenton was able to say serenely:
"I'm sure you used to decrease because you felt you owed everyone around. Now you've suddenly grown up because by saving all Yoks, you paid off your debt.
Thanks to their heroism, Witz and Marcus became illustrious sons of Yoks. The square they frequented was renamed after them, they began working with Brenton, and they were forever respected by the townspeople.
