The Legend of Monk
Howell Roland Jr, Marsh CassadyT
language
(, Dec. 9, 2016)
There was nothing unusual about the day. After school John Peters and his friends began their chant. “Monkey foot, Monkey foot, climb a tree, monkey feet eats bananas for free.” Monk, short for Montgomery, ignored the bullies as he waded out in the clear stream that ran behind the school for farm level students. He knew he was different. He had feet like a monkey, hands as big as a gorilla’s, and a face with features that resembled an ape’s. Yes, he was different, thanks to experiments performed on him by his parents while he was still in the womb. When they were arrested, he’d been placed with a farm-level family. He knew about his parents from listening to the conversation between his “aunt” and “uncle,” who were no kin to him, and the lady from the welfare department who came monthly to check on him. She always asked the same questions. “Has he shown any strange abilities? Has he become aggressive?” From her questions and how she asked them, Monk had learned to hide from them his abilities to sense emotions in animals. Now, he wanted to forget all that and just be alone in the tall oaks forest on the other side of the stream. He had other unusual abilities, as well. Other things he kept hidden. He could climb trees and swing through them like the fictitious character Tarzan he had read in antique books he’d found in the cellar of his foster parents’ house.Frolicking carefree through the oak canopies, he could dream of someday becoming a shuttle pilot to the moon and Mars. It was a dream he knew could never come true because of his being restricted to the farm level. Still, he enjoyed the fantasy.Suddenly, he heard a sound like a hurricane, and a burst of wind blew dried leaves slammed against his face. What on earth could it be? Taking care not to be seen, Monk crept through the trees to a larger clearing. Before him stood a spaceship—much larger than any he’d ever seen. What he didn’t realize was that he’d stumbled onto an alien invasion of earth. Worst of all, the aliens planned to snatch away all earth’s children between ten and thirteen. Then they’d all begin training to become imperial troops for the Zorkan emperor.Thus begins the legend of Monkey Foot as he tries to survive the brutal training and savage Goom instructors whose goals are to take the top three percent of the children and make them into a deadly fighting force for the emperor. The other ninety-seven percent would gradually be eliminated.