A Window Cleaner Discovers a Korok Seed at the Tip of an Unnamed Skyscraper
A yarn inspired by my last blog
You found me!
Exclaimed the tiny green creature, moments after appearing in a puff of smoke, as if it was a prize that the window cleaner had been searching for. But he had not been searching for anything, he was just getting to the end of another evening’s work. Not that he wasn’t grateful for the view, he could be cleaning any of the identikit offices at any of the orbital industrial estates at the edges of the landscape before the cut off of a starless horizon. The view and the lack of bird droppings were among the many benefits of cleaning the glass of the city’s tallest tower. At the same time, it was just another gig and he was not expecting to find a small, dull stone wedged between the glass panes, nor what happened when he yanked it away from its lodging.
The creature floated before him. He reached out and prodded it with the edge of his squeegie to check it was real. It giggled, a perky little giggle. “You found me!” It cried out again.
Its skin was a shiny creamy green, with a leaf-shaped mask covering its face. He noticed that, other than the mask, it was naked. That meant that it was humanlike enough to be described as naked. He was unnerved rather than startled. Being easily startled is not a helpful quality for anyone working at these heights, even when you’re tethered to a platform with a harness.
He asked if it needed any help. He’d heard enough fairy tales to suppose that the creature might need to be taken to its home within a distant wood, where it would be united with its kin. A city was a cruel and dangerous place for such a jolly and benign entity.
You found me! Was its only reply. Maybe he needed to tell someone in the building that there was some kind fairy tale creature on the roof. It felt like a job for security. Then he thought about all the corporate hedge fund types that owned the building. They’d no doubt send it off to an offshore laboratory for all kinds of unconscionable tortures, not even in the name of scientific endeavour or human knowledge but for profit and nothing more.
You found me!
He put down the squeegie and reached out with his finger. He had to know for sure. The creature giggled. It’s belly was warm, squishy and slightly moist, like a cake that wasn’t fully risen.
Maybe he could shove it in his rucksack and carry it home? The kids would love it but the wife would not approve. He thought about leaving it at a run-of-the-mill forest rather that whatever special forest it belonged to? But security were known to randomly search all support staff at the exit, if they found this on him there would be all kinds of questions. His visa had run out a few weeks back and he kept forgetting to renew it. It was probably too late now. He wasn’t good at these kinds of things.
You found me!
He looked about for the rock, to see if he could wedge it back between the sheets of glass, to reverse whatever puffed this creature into existence but it was gone. Probably puffed into the same billowy smoke that the creature appeared from. He looked back at the creature, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking for for you. I wish I could help you, but I can’t.” He then pressed the big yellow button on the platform’s console that triggered a slow, whirring descent.
You found me!
The voice was already more distant. The jolly green shape quickly faded into the dark, cold air.
He might be back next week. He’d have to think about it.
The creature was now out of sight, its exclamations drowned out by the sound of the traffic below and strong updrafts.
He was not a bad man.
He had never been knowingly cruel to another creature since he was a schoolboy. He could mention this in confession if he needed to. The padre had heard much worse, he was sure.
He already knew that this was his last slow descent from the tower. The identikit offices in the orbital industrial estates awaited his magical touch.
