Qwerty, Come Home

In a world where the sky beams orange, and the ocean flows red; where the forest meets the beaches of blue butter-like sand, there laid an egg. This egg was no ordinary egg; it was one that would be hatched into a very diverse family. The mother was a duck, and the father, well; the father was somewhat of a purple beaver. What came from this odd couple was a little platypus; the strangest of all creatures, but yet so frail and confused.

The pale purple egg cracked open. A rust colored beak poked its way through the porcelain shell and came out into the world. Big, bright, black eyes peaked past the homey structure in the gentle cradle of a sand dune. The outside world overwhelmed it and the tiny animal hid its face behind the walls of the egg. Another pair of eyes looked into the egg.

“Welcome,” the eyes said lovingly, “I am your mother.”

The baby platypus lifted her head out of the egg. ”Mommy?” it cooed.

“Yes baby?”

“Who am I?”

“You are Qwerty, my newborn daughter.”

Qwerty tilted her head, taking in all of this new information and saved up all of her courage to step out of the egg. Outside was her new home, she must be brave.

Qwerty and her mother spent much time with each other over the next few months, but Qwerty never made any “real” friends. She tried with all of her might to spend time with the seven silly seals from Elly Elephant’s Elementary, but they had better things to do, so Qwerty just settled with rocks to play with.

Her mother had painted faces on the rocks. Each one of them had their own personality and opinions, and none could say anything bad about Qwerty if you asked them. She was a kind child, not like the others that threw the rocks.

She did have a favorite rock, though. His name was Cappichio. He was a tough looking, French rock with a mustache and barrette. They did everything together; they ran, and played hop-scotch, and sometimes they would build little forts in Qwerty’s room and have sleepovers. They were basically inseparable.

One day, Qwerty was lying in her bed when she overheard her parents talking about how they were broke. She had never been worried about money. She didn’t really have to, because her parents made up for it with love. Qwerty had to think about her life after her parents had finished their conversation. Maybe she wasn’t popular because she was poor. She stayed up all night, distressed about what she had heard.

After school the next afternoon, Qwerty didn’t come home. Cappichio, eagerly waiting for her, became seriously worried, and set off to tell her parents. When he found them, he told them about the situation. Qwerty’s mother was horrified at the thought of their little girl in that wildly wicked world. They searched and searched for Qwerty until night approached. They had no luck, so they decided to wait for her at home, she may just been delayed, or strayed off of the path on the way home. Cappichio was not done looking, though, he knew of a city, so he was going to check there, as well.

Instead, she had escaped her life, determined to make it on her own. The problem was that she didn’t know where she was going. She started a trek, through the forest to a city; but what would she do when she got there? She had no one to take her in, so she would be helpless and homeless. That didn’t stop her though, she wanted to rid herself of her old, poor life.

A first look at the city would make it seem that it was normal, but her point of view changed when she actually reached it. Animals were disease-stricken, sprawled all over the streets. Qwerty was disgusted at this way of life, she felt sorry for everyone that could even think of this as a nice place to live. She wondered what made her want to come here. She knew that home was not worse than this place, but it was dark fall already, so she would have to stay here for the night. The forest was not a safe place to be wondering around alone after dark.

Then Qwerty saw it; a tiny purple flower covered in dirt and foreign objects near the entrance to an alley way. The slight bit of beauty drew Qwerty’s attention over to it. She slowly knelt near the flower and brushed the earth off. It fell onto a mound that twitched at the sensation. Qwerty titled her head.

A tiny gopher lifted its head up and scanned the surrounding area. As it laid its eyes upon Qwerty, it jumped up and assumed an attack pose.

Qwerty, startled at the young animal’s ambition, stuttered, “I-I’m not going to h-hurt you.”

The gopher glanced left, and then right, and relaxed its arms down. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“I am Qwerty, and I have run away. I was planning on finding a place to stay here, but –“

“You don’t want to be here. Leave.”

“Why?” Qwerty questioned quizzically.

The gopher darted her head around. Qwerty could tell that she was on edge. “I am Kaia. Do you want the short version? We are governed by The Richies. They are a powerful group of rich people that don’t care for the citizens of this city. They will let you rot before they even think about your well-being. Once they find you, you have to claim citizenship to this city. Then you are doomed. I would, personally, love to get out of this retched place.”

“Why are you so fidgety, though?” Qwerty asked.

“They are coming. I can sense them,” she paused for a moment, “You have to go.”

Qwerty then heard a low thumping sound, nearing the alley, just around the corner. Kaia grabbed Qwerty and pushed her into a hole about five feet in the alley. She then ran out into the street and watched for the thumping sound’s maker to show themselves.

Qwerty recognized that sound. “Wait a minute,” she said, and climbed out of the hole. She walked out of the alley, and then, Cappichio came bouncing around the corner, searching for Qwerty.

“Qwerty!” Cappichio yelled to her.

Kaia greeted Cappichio, relieved that it wasn’t the Richies.

“Qwerty,” Cappichio began, “Your parents have been looking for you. They miss you, and want you to come home.” He then looked around, “This place can’t be that much better than your home.”

“I do miss home,” Qwerty thought out loud, “but I can’t help feeling sorry for Kaia. I mean, she has no home. At least I have a home. Do you think mom will let us take her in? Is that ok with you, Kaia?”

Kaia shrugged her little shoulders, “Whatever is ok with your folks.”

Cappichio thought about it a moment, “I’m sure that they would be fine with it.

“Yay!” Qwerty exclaimed as she grabbed Kaia’s arm and spun her around.

“Don’t get too excited, Qwerty. We don’t even know if they will take her in.”

“Whatever. I want to go home now,” Qwerty whined at Cappichio.

“Ok,” Cappichio sighed, “Kaia, get your things. We’re leaving.”

Kaia hurriedly packed up the little that she had, and slung it on her back, wrapped in a piece of cloth. Qwerty, Cappichio, and Kaia traveled back to Qwerty’s home. When they arrived, Qwerty’s parents welcomed Kaia into their lives with much glee. They were just glad to have their daughter in safe arms again.

Qwerty vowed never to leave them again, she knew that it wasn’t their faults that they were poor, and basically, she really didn’t even care anymore. She realized that there were people worse off than she was, take Kaia for an example, and she needed to help them out as much as she could.

She started a soup kitchen, one where people like her could eat and have a shelter to sleep in. She took donations from everyone, and the seven silly seals from Elly Elephant’s Elementary even did a food drive, to show that they accepted Qwerty for who she was, not whether or not she had money.