In the Belly of the Beast
(A Collaborative Story)
[The following chapters are the beginning
of a story that you must complete.
Use your imagination and your best story writing abilities to make a
lively ending to this funny and sad tale. If your story is among the better
ones, it will be published on the Golden Thread page. --E.M.-L.]
Chapter 1.
It was near the end of 2001. Godzilla needed to see a doctor for his
yearly checkup, but he was having trouble getting any Tokyo doctor to make an
appointment for him.
"He will destroy the whole
hospital!" one Tokyo doctor said.
"Remember what happened last year in Nagoya? We've got to get him away from
here. The sooner the better."
"But he won't leave!" the nurse
said.
"Then make some excuse," the
doctor said. "Anything to get
him away!"
"But what
can I say?" the nurse asked.
"Let me think a minute," the
doctor said. "There's got to
be a way!"
In the background could be heard
Godzilla's heavy growl echoing down the hospital halls.
"I know!" the doctor said finally. "Tell him we here in Japan just
aren't good with reptiles. Tell
him the doctors down in Taipei are better. Try to get him to leave Japan--that's the important
thing. You'll be a national
hero!"
Godzilla was waiting out in the parking
lot. Using a loudspeaker, the
nurse passed him the excuse.
Hearing of the "better" doctors in Taipei, and seeing that the
Tokyo doctor was unwilling to see him in any case, the giant monster turned and
walked toward the sea to swim to Taiwan.
Chapter 2.
Only hours later Godzilla was crashing his
way over the ridge of mountains that separates Taipei from the sea. The local medical associations had
already been informed that Godzilla was coming and that he needed a
checkup. What to do? None of Taiwan's doctors were willing
to see him. They were all too
afraid.
Dr. Lin stood at the head of a conference
table of representatives from each of the Taipei hospitals.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he
said. "We have a serious
problem. Our Japanese colleagues have
foisted on us a responsibility that should be entirely their own, and we must
decide on--"
"Let him see Genius Mike," a
voice interrupted from down the table.
A murmur spread round the room.
"Excuse me," Dr. Lin said. "What did you say there?"
The face of a young adolescent leaned
forward over the conference table.
He was around thirteen.
"My name is Benjamin," the boy
said. "I'm a patient at the
Tien Mu Mental Hospital, and my friend Mike here is a genius. He's really a genius!"
"A genius?" Dr. Lin said.
"Genius. That's me," said the smaller boy sitting next to
Benjamin. "I'm a genius."
"Mike lives in the hospital with
me," Benjamin explained.
"He owns a gun shop that sells AK-47s."
"I see," Dr. Lin said. "But what does this have to do
with the problem we have here today?
Are you and this boy Mike....
I mean--why are you here at this meeting?"
Dr. Lin looked to the others around the
conference table as if for some explanation.
"None of the doctors here want to see
Godzilla. Isn't that right?"
Benjamin said. "They're all
too scared."
"Yes, that's true. But I still don't see--"
"So you can let Godzilla see Genius
Mike," Benjamin said.
"That's our plan."
"And you... You mean your friend Mike here will then shoot Godzilla with
an AK-47? Is that what you
mean?"
"No. Let me explain.
Genius Mike is very brave.
He's braver than anyone.
Last month he even wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight against Osama
Bin Laden, but his mother wouldn't let him."
Another murmur rose around the room.
"If my Mom had let me go to
Afghanistan," Mike said, "this war would be over already."
"All you have to do," Benjamin
went on, "is teach Mike how to act like a doctor, and then he can meet
with Godzilla and give him a checkup.
Mike won't be afraid at all.
He isn't afraid of anything!"
"I'll take care of it," Mike
said. "No problem."
Dr. Lin was clearly puzzled. He fixed his gaze on the doctor sitting
next to Mike.
"And you, sir?" he asked. "Do you perhaps know anything
about this?"
"My name's Dr. Chen," the man
began, "and everything Benjamin here says is true. He is, of course, a patient in our
mental hospital, but he speaks the truth.
As for Genius Mike, I can assure you he is crazy enought to examine
Godzilla without fear."
"And... Genius Mike--is he really a
genius too?" Dr. Lin asked.
"I'm not sure that's really important
right now," Dr. Chen said.
"What we need is someone who can meet with Godzilla. We need someone who won't be too afraid
to go through with a complete checkup.
If one of us here starts the checkup, and then becomes afraid and starts
screaming and trying to run away...
Well, that would be a disaster, wouldn't it? So maybe Mike could help us with this. Whether he's a genius or not is
immaterial. I'm sure my colleagues
here will all agree."
After this short speech it was soon
decided that Genius Mike might actually be a way to solve the terrible problem
faced by the doctors of Taipei. If
only Godzilla could be convinced that Mike was really a doctor, then the plan
might really work. But was Mike
really a genius?
Chapter 3.
Four hours had passed. Under the direction of Dr. Lin and Dr.
Chen, Mike's doctor training had been completed. In the meantime Godzilla had destroyed much of the Shih-Lin
area and was walking toward the Sung-Shan Airport. The monster had put the Grand Hotel on his head as a kind of
hat. Police in helicopters
delivered the message to Godzilla that Taiwan's best doctor--"a genius in
fact"--was ready to see him at the Taipei Adventist Hospital.
Genius Mike waited in a white doctor's
coat for Godzilla to arrive. When,
led by helicopters, Godzilla finally reached the hospital, Mike met the monster
without fear. The
"doctor" even had the cheek to make Godzilla fill out a small pile of
forms before the exam could begin.
After all the necessary forms were complete, he had Godzilla get into a
light green hospital gown. Then he
carefully measured Godzilla's height and weight, and examined his eyes and
throat.
"Hmm," said Genius Mike,
pretending to notice something significant in the monster's throat.
Next Mike listened to Godzilla's heart
with a stethoscope and he took his blood pressure, each time entering the
numbers in a little book. Finally
he drew some blood and did a chest X-ray.
After all this was finished, he pretended to think for a moment. Looking serious, Genius Mike turned to
Godzilla and told the monster that he would be frank with him.
"You're a little overweight," he
said. "We're going to have to
put you on a special diet."
Godzilla growled pensively.
"In the future," Mike said,
"you're goint to have to eat fewer buses, fewer airports, and fewer fat
people. Also you're going to have
to drink less ocean water."
Godzilla made no reply to this.
"To stay healthy, you'll need to eat
more thin people, more bicycles, and more trees," Mike went on. "And a little daily exercise might
really help. I recommend a brisk
morning swim between Japan and Korea, followed by an hour of fasting, then a
light lunch of trees, thin people, and bicycles."
But Godzilla didn't seem to like this
plan. Genius Mike could see that
the monster was becoming angrier and angrier.
"Of course," he said, "if
you want to substitute a sushi restaurant now and then for the trees, I don't
think there will be any problems.
The main thing is to cut down on the fat people and airports."
Grabbing Genius Mike with his right paw,
Godzilla downed him with the ease most people down a vitamin pill. After that Godzilla proceeded to eat the
Taipei Adventist Hospital. When
the hospital had been completely demolished and swallowed, Godzilla headed
northward. He had the Sung-Shan
Airport for dessert before once more crossing the mountains that separate
Taipei from the seashore. Godzilla
entered the ocean to cool down after his long day.
Chapter 4.
Most people assumed that Genius Mike died
that day. He was, after all, eaten
by one of the world's most fearsome monsters. But the truth is quite different. After sliding down Godzilla's gooey esophagous, Mike
freefell into the large cavity of the monster's stomach, landing finally on the
hood of a taxi which was stuck in a large, burning pile of city rubble and
mangled buses. All around him he
could hear the screams of victims tangled in the wreckage. The smoke half blinded him as he
climbed down through the twisted metal and concrete. Making it to the bottom, Mike crossed an open space of about
twenty meters, limped over a pile of broken slabs of concrete, and came finally
to a small, smoky park. Three
children in dirty clothes were playing with a ball.
"Hey!" Genius Mike cried out to
them.
One of the boys came up to him.
"What are you doing here?"
Genius Mike asked in surprise.
"We're playing basketball," the
boy said. "Can't you
see?"
The boy pointed at a basketball hoop in
the small park.
"But... But we're in Godzilla's belly!" Genius Mike cried. "How can you be playing basketball?"
"Don't be so surprised," the boy
said. "And welcome. You can register down the street over
there."
The boy pointed to an intersection that glowed
somewhat in the foggy darkness.
"Take a left at that corner, then
walk until you see the clinic.
Right next to the clinic is the registration office. We're going to continue with our
basketball, okay? Welcome to
Godzillaville."
With this the boy walked away.
* * *
The rules:
1) If you want to write an ending to this
story, the most important thing is NOT TO READ THE ENDINGS LINKED BELOW. First write your own ending, then you
can see what others have done.
2) The story must be finished in four or
more chapters.
3) Genius Mike will spend three or more days
with the people of Godzillaville, learning about their city and their history.
4) Finally Genius Mike will think of a plan
of escape. He will escape
Godzillaville and (perhaps) help many of the people escape too.
5) Godzilla must not be killed.
Special problems to think about:
A) Are the people in Godzillaville happy or
unhappy to be living there?
Why? What are the
disadvantages of living in Godzillaville?
Are there any advantages?
B) How long have they been in there? Are they mostly Japanese, or are they
from other countries too?
C) Where does their food come from?
D) How do the people in Godzillaville
provide electricity for their city?
Email: inthemargins03@hotmail.com
---------
This page is at
http://www.necessaryprose.com/
---------