Write About A Silver Ring

We cut across town.  It was early morning and the street traffic was light.  Mostly food vendors setting up carts and cabbies jostling for a prime spot at the curb.  They didn't even spare us a second glance.  I wanted to hit one last stop before we explored the wharf and the tunnel.  We headed toward the heart of the city.  The buildings became taller and more respectable.  Less trash but more dirty looks as we threaded through the streets.  We were almost to our destination when Berto stopped suddenly.

"Look at the lights, Raz!" he exclaimed, turning down toward Lyson Road.  Up ahead, I could make out the pulsating, searing lights of Cuttle.

"We don't have time, Berto," I pleaded.  I tried to tug him back on track but it was no use.  Most people found the visual speech of the Cuttle disconcerting.  I had only a rudimentary understanding of what all the colors meant but only a fool would approach a Cuttle flashing the cold hard colors of blue and purple.  In my experience, the Cuttle were like rats.  They did their own thing and left you alone unless you cornered them.  Then, they fought viciously.  I avoided them at all cost.  But Umberto had a strange fixation with their blinking lights.  He claimed he could understand them.  But then, he also claimed he could hear butterflies sing when they flew.  He isn't the quickest off the starting blocks if you get my drift.

"They are so sad, Raz," Umberto muttered, as he hurried into the square in front of the Cuttle consul.  For such a big guy, Umberto can move surprisingly fast.  I had to hurry to keep up.  He stopped at the edge of the Cuttle crowd that had gathered on the embassy steps.  Deep midnight blue and dark violent violet colors splashed across his face from the Cuttle around him.  I stayed on the edge of the crowd.  I had no urge to get in the middle of that rats nest.  The Cuttle surrounded Berto quickly, pulsating rapidly.  Umberto stood still, his eyes wide, mesmerized by the lights.  The rhythm and glare gave me a headache and I had to look away.  When my sight cleared, the Cuttle had parted and Umberto was walking back to me, tears in his eyes.

"Raz, it's awful," Umberto sniffled, running his nose along his arm.  "They have lost their kids Raz.  Their kids!  And no one cares or is doing nothing.  Can we do something Raz?  I bet you can think of a way to help, right?"  Umberto looked down at me, expectantly.

Just between you and me, there was no way I was getting mixed up in Cuttle kid business.  Their offspring were a mean, dog eat dog, hardscrabble lot.  And I mean that literally.  Cuttle kids were notorious for loving the taste of black dog.  The last thing I wanted was to track down a couple of missing Cuttle squirts but I didn't have the time to win Umberto over to my way of seeing things so I did something I would end up regretting later... I lied.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time.  If only I knew the heart-ache it would cause us later.

"Sure Berto, we sure will help.  I bet if we find those Cuttle kiddos, they'll be some big reward for us which would be great, right?  But to do that, we need to hurry up and look into that tunnel I told you about.  No more wasting time, ok?" I said.  Umberto nodded eagerly and then wrapped me in a big bear hug.

"You're the best Raz!  I just knew I could count on you!"  Umberto dropped me back to the ground and ran back toward the Cuttle.  "I'll tell 'em we're on the case now!" he yelled over his shoulder to me.  I watched as he tried to talk to the Cuttle.  I have no idea what he told them or what they understood.  Their colors turned bright gold for a moment and then Umberto was back at my side, ready to go.

"So, whadda we gotta do, Raz?" he asked me.

"We need to pick up Momma's ring Berto," I said as we headed north, the lights of the Cuttle riot at our back.  "Then we'll be ready to explore."