22. Out of the Bag
Stellaria struggled to get out of the bag but in vain. The cloth was heavy-duty and the mouth was held tightly shut by whichever thief was carrying the sack in his turn. Finally she resigned to her present state of fate and sat waiting and listening in the dark.
The thieves — for it was obvious to Stellaria that these two men were up to no good — were returning to their base cave with a piece of good news, and some extraordinary loot. The starlight lantern and she were obviously the loot — Stellaria couldn’t imagine that they could be worth anything to anyone — but the thing about the good news was interesting.
On their way to town to do the things on their robbing list the men had witnessed a spectacle unlike anything they had ever seen. A winged rock band had performed by the roadside and their show had been spectacular. Fantastic. And furthermore, it had been only another rehearsal. The main performance was to be sometime later in town. The fact that the thieves were planning to go back and pick the pockets of everyone in the audience wasn’t of much interest to Stellaria. What was important, however, was the fact that the band couldn’t be too far away and it might still be possible to save Rattus, her pet project rat. The men talked about one player in particular who had stolen the show with his stage choreography. The description of the player’s wild dance and improvised saxophone solo sounded like it was induced by a rat running wild in the player’s pants. The player had to be Miro and Rattus had to be the key to his outstanding performance.
The drone of the men’s harsh voices as they talked and then their desperate attempts to sing some Christmas carols drifted in and out of Stellaria’s ears. Her legs were getting numb and the coarse fabric of the sack rubbed unpleasantly against her wings, but she must have been more tired than she thought because eventually she fell asleep. Then, all of a sudden, she awoke when the sack hit the ground.
The sack fell down with a bump. Stellaria felt about the insides of the bag with her hands and discovered that the mouth of the sack wasn’t shut anymore. She slid her hand out and solid cold met her face. She crawled out into the open. The men lay on the path knocked out and partially covered in snow. What had happened?
Miraculously, the lantern sat on top of the belly of the other man. He was still holding the handle but Stellaria was able to loosen his grip. She quickly took the lantern and, without stopping to find out what had caused this lucky turn of events, started to walk back the way they had come. But the men’s footprints in the snow were wide apart and her legs were too short. Without thinking Stellaria worked her wings to make it easier to bridge the gaps. Then all of a sudden she realized that she could again fly! The rough texture of the cloth and the warmth inside the sack had thawed her wings. Now her troubles were, well — not completely over — but significantly lessened.
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