MARCH 3, 2020

Watchful Eyes

“Watchful Eyes” is my story for the 93rd episode of The Word Count Podcast.

We continue with the theme of ANIMALS. This story is based on the following image and it also had to be about animal activism and/or environmental heroism.

STORY INSPIRATION: This was not an easy one for me. I tend toward stories with angst and a sordid twist. A picture of a cute koala does not inspire that for me. Still, I think my story turned out well. Thanks to my husband, John, who put the initial idea in my head.

You can listen to me reading “Watchful Eyes” on episode 93 of R.B. Wood’s podcast.

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People came and went, taking things out and bringing things in. Upon arrival, some of the merchandise was alive and some was not. It didn’t take long for the live items to be removed, usually within a week. No one ever cleaned up the waste in between that time, though.

The filthy room would make a pig sty look like a palace. The warehouse space was located in the back, cut off from the storefront that faced a busy main street.

The front was nothing to brag about either. A decrepit wooden sign read: The Coop: Get your eggs here. The sign was nailed into a metal door—crooked. If you didn’t know what was behind the door, you’d never want to go inside. Anyone who rang the bell had a specific reason to do so, and it had nothing to do with buying eggs.

The owner, Murray Campbell, was not at The Coop. It was Saturday, and only the students he hired and paid slightly better than minimum wage worked on the weekends. He upped the rate purposely to entice the young and desperate who needed a job. It was security work. All they had to do was let people in and out, and to keep the place locked up in between.

“A monkey could do it!” he said.

Murray was doing what he liked to do best on the weekends—hunt and capture. That he poached didn’t bother him at all. He didn’t see animals as sentient beings. To him, they were merely sport, like tennis or football. And he—a top athlete, and he got paid handsomely for it.

It was Jessica’s weekend to sit watch. Upon arrival shortly after 9 in the morning, she went into the back room and turned on the light. The stench hit her like a punch to the face—the smell of rot, urine, fecal matter, and body parts. She heard a shriek, nearly jumped out of her skin even though she knew it wasn’t human. Off to the right of the room hung a cage, and inside three white birds perched on a fallen branch. She approached them as they flew around frantically in the confined space.

“Shh … it’s okay, it’s okay, you’ll be okay.” Her voice shook even as she tried to maintain calm.

White cockatoos—on the international endangered species list, like all the animals that have entered here.

“It’s okay, you’ll be okay, I promise.” Jessica hoped her dulcet tone would calm the birds. It did not. They continued to squawk, flying into one another. The newspaper lined cage was covered in bird shit. She pulled a water bottle from her backpack and tried to fill the empty water dispenser attached to the cage. The birds screamed at a higher pitch but did not drink.

Fuck this, Jessica thought. I need to end it now!

She walked with purpose and anger to the far corner of the room. Amidst a stack of ivory horns, bones, and bloodied fur pelts sat a medium sized koala atop a shelf. With his stocky build, large round head, and big furry ears, he stared at her quietly, like he understood her pain.

Six months ago, Jessica found him on the street and brought him here. His eyes were badly damaged, but aside from that, he was perfect.

“Come here, Kam,” she said, as she gently lifted him and held him to her chest. His matted grey-brown fur was cool to the touch. The temperature in the warehouse was set to a frigid 13 degrees Celsius. “Your eyes have been my eyes, Kam. And soon, the world will see what we’ve seen.”

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BREAKING NEWS

Millionaire business man, Murray Campbell, has been arrested on suspicion of links to a criminal network specializing in the trade of protected animals. The criminal group is purported to have illegal buyers and sellers across all seven continents.

Best known for his outspoken views on hunters’ rights, Mr. Campbell has posed numerous times with dead animals and posted the images online. This has infuriated many animal activist groups who are today ecstatic with the news of his arrest.

“Illegal wildlife traffickers like Campbell are pushing some animals toward extinction,” said Jessica, a member of IWF, the International Wildlife Federation.

Based on an anonymous tip, which included film evidence, the police raided a property called The Coop, owned by Mr. Campbell. The warehouse, which was thought to have been deserted was a repository for much of the contraband. Among some of the items seized were elephant tusks, horns, and internal organs. Three extremely rare, white cockatoos were also found on site and are now in the care of animal services.

When asked who was responsible for the incriminating film footage, the chief of police said they are still investigating the source. The camera was located on the premises, hidden inside the eye sockets of a stuffed koala, a species that is now in danger due to the Australian bushfires.