A Girl Named Holocaust

 A Girl Named Holocaust

by

Phoenix Hocking

Holly's parents, for reasons known only to themselves, had named her Holocaust. The parents were not descended from the Jews, nor Jehovah's Witnesses, nor gypsies, nor any of the other people the Nazis persecuted during that long-ago war. Whatever possessed them to name this sweet, friendly child with pink hair Holocaust could not be explained by simple logic. But Holocaust it was, and Holocaust her name remained until she was old enough to legally change it to Holly.

We were both eighteen when we met over pie and coffee in the college cafeteria. Everybody knew of Holly, of course. I mean, how could we not? Holly and her parents were the only Carstinglemunchkins in town. (This was not unusual. Carstinglemunchkins prefer the sea, and my town is a good six hundred gleeks from that body of water.) But few people actually knew Holly, and I like to think I became her friend before . . . well, before.

For those of you who may be uneducated, though in this day and age, I hardly see how that's possible, perhaps I should explain Holly's heritage.

Carstinglemunchkins are half-breeds, created when people of Earth (and I remain a proud full-Earthling, thank you) accepted those from the planet Cartstgle as full members of the human race. It took a while. Cartstgles may look like us, with a few radical differences, but their views needed a little fine-tuning before Earthlings could fully embrace them. Not that we had much choice, actually.

It's been, oh gosh, what is it now? Three hundred years since the first ship arrived? Long enough for Carstinglemunchkins to have fully integrated into society, although, as they promised, they haven't "taken over." Yet.

Mankind was pretty much shot by the time these creatures from outer space came to save us from ourselves. We'd almost destroyed the planet completely, what with poisoning our rivers and streams, smogging up the air, and fracking into the soil to deplete it of everything except the energy we thought we needed at the time. And the wars! Good Javnark, the wars! It seemed every nation was at war with every other nation, and we were on the brink of blowing this Earth of ours straight out of its orbit, and destroying the delicate balance of the Universe in the process.

Something had to be done.

So, Javnark, in Her infinite wisdom, sent us the Cartstgles.

It was not an easy sell at the time, I'll tell you that. Fearing a take-over, men of Earth banded together to eradicate the Cartstgles, but of course, that was futile. When they arrived, the first thing they did was make all of our weapons non-usable. No gun would fire, no missile would launch, all the chemical warfare weapons became nothing more than dust. It's laughable now, but at the time, man resorted to good old-fashioned rock throwing, but even that foolish.

Under the direction of the Cartstgles, Earth finally had peace, and had no idea what to do with it. Poverty and homelessness and disease were all gone. It took a while to learn how to live without conflict.

Anyway, back to Holly. As I say, Holly and I met over pie and coffee in the college cafeteria. (It's hard to imagine, but I understand that once people actually had to pay to become educated. How crazy is that? Only the rich could afford an education, and most of them frittered it away in the pursuit of something called money. After the Cartstgles arrived, people had no need of money, but there is always a need for education. Mostly to make sure we don't backslide into the society we once were.)

But I digress. Holly and I were sharing a piece of margglesnoggen pie, and a cup of good old-fashioned coffee in the college cafeteria. It was early afternoon. Morning classes were over and afternoon classes had not yet started.

Now, I should tell you that margglesnoggen pie isn't anything at all like chocolate, which remains my favorite. But Holly likes it, (it reminds her of home, she said) and at the time, anything Holly wanted was fine with me. I mean, I was deeply in love with this . . . I started to say "this woman," but since Holly wasn't exactly a woman, in the strict sense of the word, I guess I'll just say "this creature" instead.

Anyway, Holly and I had been friends for a while, and I was falling in love. I was just getting ready to ask her if she'd be willing to Bond with me, when she dropped the bombshell. (Isn't it funny how we still cling to old expressions? I mean, bombshell? We haven't had bombs for three hundred years!)

She brushed her pink hair away from her middle eye, and took a deep breath. "I've decided to go home," she said.

"Home? You are home," I protested.

"You know what I mean. Home to Cartstgle."

I put my fork down. "But, why? Aren't you happy here? I thought," and here I paused. "I thought maybe you and I might Bond together."

She smiled. Well, as near to a smile as a Carstinglemunchkin gets. "That's sweet, Par-kal, that's very sweet, but I can't Bond with you. I am coming of age, and you know what that means."

Yes, I knew, but that didn't mean I liked it.

For a female who came of age, certain decisions had to be made. Especially in Holly's case. She was a fourth-generation Carstinglemunchkin, and the decision to stay on Earth, or to go back to Cartstgle was a crucial one. If a female stayed, and Bonded with an Earthling, then she would lose those things that made her what she was, and her children would be considered Earthlings. She would even look like an Earthling. It was a huge decision.

"If I stay, and Bond with you, look at everything I would lose. My middle eye, my wheel, my whole heritage. I don't want to lose that."

"But, but what about me? Don't you love me?" I couldn't believe how sad I was. I loved this creature and all that made up the uniqueness that was Holly. I loved her middle eye. I loved her wheel, that exited the middle of her belly and fell to the floor. I loved her pink hair. I loved all of her quirks, and her intelligence, and her humor. She was everything I wanted in a Bondling, and I didn't want to lose her.

But, what could I do? The only alternative was to leave Earth and go to Cartstgle with her. But, I was an Earthling, by Javnark, and I wouldn't give that up. Not willingly.

I stirred more kinklesnort into my coffee. "I can't go with you, Holly," I said sadly. "But you know I'll think of you every day."

She reached across the table and stroked my arm with her pink furry paw. "I know."

"Can you ever come back?"

She furrowed her brow, and her middle eye closed. She was thinking. "I'm not sure," she finally answered. "I know of a couple people who returned to Earth, so I don't think it's forbidden. I guess I'll have to wait and find out when I get there." She stopped and purred slightly. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too."

The bell rung then, startling us both. "It's time for class," I said unnecessarily.

We rose from the table, I on my two legs, she on her four.

"Will you come and see me off?" she asked.

"Of course," I gulped. "When are you leaving?"

"On Heske next, at daybreak."

I nodded. "At the port-al? I'll be there."

And I was.

I was there when she got on the ship that was supposed to take her home. I watched her turn, seek me with all three of her eyes, and raise a paw in farewell. I thought I saw tears, but of course, Carstinglemunchkins are incapable of crying, so that was only in my imagination.

And I was there when the ship lifted silently from the ground.

To this day, nobody knows what happened. One minute, the ship was lifting off as it had hundreds of times in the past, and then it shuddered and burst into flames.

Screams tore through the morning as those inside the ship began falling like stars onto the grassy field below. Spectators began to cry, those that could, and those that couldn't simply wailed with the high screech that Carstinglemunchkins use when they are distressed. It's a sound we Earthlings haven't heard for many, many years. Not since the old rock-throwing days. For many of us, it was the first time we had heard the sound, and it shook us to our core.

And I? I stood at the edge of the field, watching my love go up in flames, along with so many of her kind, and I smiled. Mission accomplished.

If I couldn't have her, then neither could Cartstgle.