Following Richard's instructions to the dot, Elsa hid behind the Farmer's son's house and waited until nightfall. Her memory wasn't her most exceptional quality, but still, she tried her best to recall every single step of the plan. She couldn't give herself the luxury of screwing things up; that would cost her her trip to the Moon.
But at last, when the city was dead silent and the sky once again filled with softly pulsing lights, Elsa jumped out of her hiding and started her way through the deserted streets. Her determined steps clicked on the sidewalk, echoing among the blocks looming indefinitely toward the sky to both sides of the road.
"Buildings," Richard had told Elsa the glass blocks were called. Instead, "blocks" were what the humans of the city called the spaces between streets, occupied by buildings.
It seems like there's nothing left unnamed in the city, Elsa thought—humans made everything so complicated and confusing!
Nothing to be surprised.
This was just the way they were.
It took Elsa a good deal of walking to realize how big the city was. Richard's directions seemed simple enough, yes, but now that she had to go through those long distances by herself instead of letting a machine carry her around, her journey to the Moon suddenly turned lengthy and wearisome.
A machine would sweep by her occasionally, growing in her the bitterest of envies. However, that reminded her of Richard's most important pieces of advice: "Do not cross the street when the light is red."
According to him, the road was the dominion of the machines, and they got outraged if anybody defied their will and intruded into their territory. The only across was through a designated area, usually marked by a trail of white stripes over the road.
Well, she used to think machines were friendly and kind, but foolish and innocent she was! She had better tread lightly from now on; she wouldn't let herself be fooled again by those pesky machines.
Four blocks up the street, turn left, and then another four. Three more to the right, and finally three to the left. Elsa kept repeating those directions to herself so she wouldn't forget. With any luck—and if she didn't get lost first—, Elsa would reach the Moon soon.
However, when she was done with the first eight blocks and waiting to cross the striped section of the road to the ninth, a suspicious shadow came out of nowhere, prowling toward her.
It made Elsa really uneasy. She even thought of crossing the street, although Richard had warned her not to. She backed off from the potential danger approaching her.
"Hey, there," the shadow whispered. "You've wandered a long way from home, didn't you?" Already too close, in the light of the lampposts, the shadow cleared into a tall human male. His clothes were ragged and dirty, and his smoky-gray hair was long and wizened. He glanced at her with his wayworn eyes. Elsa had seen many humans since she arrived at the city, but none like this one.
"What are you doing here, huh?" he continued, dragging his words. "This ain't no place for you. You should get back home."
Elsa's eyes widened in terror. She wasn't sure what to do or what to say—this was completely unexpected. Even if she wanted to answer him, she didn't speak the complex language of humans.
The scary human stepped even closer to her, leaving her no room to run. But then a steady chirp broke through the tense silence of the darkened street. She recognized that noise; it came from the post on the corner! Its light had turned green!
Without the slightest hesitation, Elsa rushed through the street as fast as her tired legs allowed her.
"Wait! Don't be scared!" the human shouted. "I won't —" He went after her, but before he reached the street, he tripped and fell to the floor. "I—I just wanna —"
Regardless of what that scary human had to say, Elsa didn't stop—the thought didn't even cross her mind. She rushed through the next two blocks. Luckily for her, she had replenished her energy by eating most of the lawn of the Farmer's son's house.
But that energy didn't last long.
After one more block, her tired body forced her to slow to a steadier, more reasonable pace. There was no need for her to run anymore, anyway; it seemed she had lost that frightening human—he was nowhere to be seen. Her rushing heart also slowed, and she could breathe with ease once again.
It was time to resume her journey to the Moon.
Elsa reckoned she had already walked eight blocks, maybe nine.
And then she had turned... left?
And walked another three... or was it three to the right?
Oh, no!
A rush of adrenaline went through Elsa, speeding her heart up more and more. She hadn't the slightest idea where she was. She was lost!
Elsa's steps clicked hastily on the sidewalk as she paced in circles, unsure what to do. She wasn't even sure how to get back to the Farmer's son's house. In her desperation, she walked many blocks in random directions for over an hour. Her legs had grown exhausted by then, and she couldn't walk anymore. She sat there, defeated and alone, beneath the light of a lamppost. For the second time that day, her dream had slipped through her hooves, and she couldn't do anything about it.
Until now, she hadn't noticed how disturbingly quiet nights were in the city. Maybe it was the same at the farm, but she couldn't recall spending a single night awake in all the years she'd lived there.
After a while of sitting and more aimless walking, she noticed a distant hushing noise. She had heard it before, during the day—it was the noise of many humans speaking at the same time. Her inherent curiosity pushed her to go exploring, but her latest encounter with the scary human tried pulling her back to her rational self.
With no use, of course...
As usual, an adventurous Elsa ignored her survival instincts entirely and went looking for the source of the noise. After all, what did she have to lose? She had already lost her way.
With the stealth skills she had acquired back at the farm by sneaking around the Farmer's house so many times, Elsa skulked around the corner toward the source of the incessant hushing. She was confident no one would hear her. However, her hooves hit the floor hard, clicking loudly as she came to a sudden halt, startled by the scene before her. At the other side of the new street spanning before her—which looked pretty much the same as all the others—, many humans gathered in front of an especially colorful building, full of sparkling lights in all the shades of the rainbow. Loud music boomed and burst all over, shattering both the gloom and silence of the quiet nightly city.
And then she saw it: the immense, glowing sign on top of the entrance. Her expression replenished with joy, and her eyes fixed on it as if in a trance. It was precisely like Richard had described it. The lights of the sign intertwined together to form an image resembling the Moon, and some of those figures the humans called "letters," which she couldn't interpret no matter how hard she tried.
That was the place she had come so far to find!
That was the Moon!
But something seemed out of place. Elsa recalled that the light of the Moon was pale, not colorful like this... maybe it was different when you looked at it up close. She had also figured the Moon was in the sky, not in the City.
Anyway, none of that mattered at this point!
With renewed determination, Elsa began marching toward the Moon, tottering along the way in her uncontainable excitement.
The humans lining up in front of the entrance looked oddly different from those she had seen so far. The colors of their clothes went past the usual limit of two; they yelled, laughed, and talked among themselves like they hadn't seen each other in ages. They looked so happy and cheerful, and definitely friendlier than the one she had seen moments earlier!
So, using her extensive knowledge of human behavior—courtesy of Richard—, Elsa went to the end of the line and stood there, waiting for her turn to enter the Moon.
A tall and thick human stood at the door, greeting everyone who entered by saying, "welcome to The Moon Club."
Of course, it didn't take the other humans long to notice there was something a little off. In no time, puzzled stares flanked her. Everyone went silent, only leaving the booming music in the background. Elsa tried hard to act like it had nothing to do with her and stood her ground in the line.
"Woah! Look at that!" a young male human shouted from amid the crowd. "It's a cow, everyone!"
"Geez, man, what is that doing here?" another replied.
"No clue, man, but ain't that cool?"
"Ha, ha! You bet!" he exclaimed frantically and then turned to the rest of the crowd. "Everyone! We have a cow with us!" He lifted his hands.
Everyone else exploded in a frenzy, yelling in excitement and cheering at Elsa for reasons unknown to her. Now she was even more scared of these humans than the one she'd met a while back.
"Wait, don't go!" yet another Human shouted at Elsa as she rushed through the excited crowd, trying desperately to retrace her way to safety.
After running in circles, unable to escape the deranged humans, Elsa rushed into a dark passage to one side of The Moon Club. An unpleasant smell pierced her nostrils, coming from the many bags piled up at the far end, from which a nasty-looking fluid leaked and flowed along the cracks in the ground.
If this was the Moon, she didn't feel entirely comfortable with staying for too long.
But was this really the Moon?
At this point, Elsa had come to dislike the city very much; it had given her hope just to shot her down right after many times in a single night. She couldn't imagine how it would be to live there—it had to be a terrible experience!
Then, from the terrifying darkness surrounding her, a familiar noise reached her ears. "Meeeeoww."
Where was it coming from?
Was it Richard?
Had he come to save her from this horrible place?
"Meeeeoww."
Elsa scanned her surroundings. Why did cats have to be so sneaky? Wouldn't it be easier to just come forward and speak their business? Elsa definitely wasn't in a very good mood.
As expected, a cat emerged from the gloom of the passage, from behind a ragged couch near the smelly pile of bags. It wasn't Richard; this cat had more delicate features, and instead of a dark gray, striped fur, it was brown and soft-looking.
Waving its tail in a constant rhythm, the cat asked Elsa in a kind, merciful tone what was she doing there. Her name was Sophia. Her kindness and glow brought comfort to Elsa's discouraged soul.
For reasons Elsa couldn't figure, a strange feeling of confidence toward that creature engulfed her immediately. With sorrow and feeling as dumb as a rock, Elsa emptied her heart. She told Sophia all about the Moon, her friends back at the farm, The Rocket, and lastly Richard—the tricky little one of Sophia's kind who had played with her feelings during her moment of greatest need.
Sophia knew Richard.
Actually, every animal in the city knew Richard.
Everyone knew the guy wasn't exactly one to trust, and that he would take advantage of anyone if given a chance.
With her eyes full of pity for poor Elsa, Sophia was furious at Richard. She swore that one way or another, she would make that pesky little fur-ball quit his games and reveal the way to the Moon—the actual Moon. And so, Sophia hopped on top of Elsa, and they both marched back to the Farmer's son's house.
Richard had better prepare for what Sophia had to tell him.
❖
Author's Note
Enjoying the story? Please don't forget to vote, share, and leave your thoughts in the comments if you have a few seconds to spare.