Lawhinie's lecture on greed
* 1 *
"Don't make me laugh! You call that greed? You have no idea, none at all… my mother, who is not among us anymore, was greed made flesh… wanna hear about her?"
Lawhinie leaned against the wall and looked at the agonizing sun through the window. After taking a deep breath, she turned back and started her tale.
"How can I describe her better…? Well, she was as beautiful as me" The female mouse looked at her own reflection on a nearby mirror. "Yeah, I'm her vivid image; although she always preferred her hair made in a single braid, forcing me to help her comb and tie it every morning. I guess that's why now I loathe braids, they are just too troublesome"
A muffled grunt made Lawhinie stop her musing. "All right, all right… enough descriptions. I will just add that… my mother had black eyes, just like you" The female mouse caressed her guest's cheek softly, causing him to blush red.
Delighted, Lawhinie stepped back. "My mother" She continued. "Was a talented tomb raider, you see... because these selfish dead don't have need of jewelry anymore. After she broke up with my father, whoever he was, the two of us traveled all around the world trespassing on cemeteries, crypts, convents and even one pyramid. Little as I was, I often had to crawl first through damp crevices to set the ropes and test the stability of the tunnels"
The female mouse stopped and smirked. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I didn't know she was exploiting me! At that time I was still an innocent girl who just wanted to be useful to her mother… Now, be a nice guy and hand me some water, the real tale is about to start"
Lawhinie took a sip from a nut vase and cleared her throat. "We arrived here almost three years ago, looking for a legendary diamond called 'The tear of Kamehameha'. Human archeologists think it is lost for good, but imagine our surprise when we learned this tribe of brutes…" The mouse glared at the guard on the door. "Were the guardians of it! Hidden in a burrow below the king's hut… oh, and did I mention that females weren't allowed to stay in the presence of the diamond, much less touch it… such %&$%&$!"
The girl took a pause to look through the window at the nearby volcano. "So, we settled and lived among them disguised as refugees and barely tolerated for two full months before we came up with a plan. And what a plan it was! I discovered that the humans at the resort had finally finished to build the pipeline that creates the fake volcano eruption. They intended to make a display every night as grand finale for their folkloric show. 10pm was the daily scheduled hour. If used correctly, that eruption would help us to take the diamond from them, superstitious bunch of natives. However, we only would have that first inaugural night to use the show as a sign from their displeased gods"
Lost in memories, she fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling of the hut, made of dry leaves. "The appointed night came and my mother could hardly contain herself. We were waiting on a hill that overlooks the resort and the village when I had my first glimpse of what pure greed looks like"
* 2 *
"This is it, Lawhinie" My mother said to me rubbing her paws impatient. "The hour of the first eruption is getting near!" Her frenzied laugh made me arch my brows. "Hahahaha! I can almost feel that diamond in my paws!"
"Indeed, dear mother" I nodded calmly. "Just remember that this time half the diamond is mine… It was me who heard the humans talking about tonight's new event…"
"Yes, yes, don't get cocky, my girl. I already agreed to share our profits" My mother tried to sound reassuring. However, I wasn't buying it. Anyway, on the distance, the humans were dancing and partying at the resort's pool. When the fire acrobats came out to scene, we knew the time had come.
"Wait here and take care of our belongings, girl…" mother ordered. "I will teach these ignorant natives one or two things about women power"
But then I grabbed her paw and stopped her short. "Wait, I don't like this part of the plan… isn't the diamond too heavy for you to carry it alone?"
"Oh come on Lawhinie" My mother waved that off. "I'm going to scare them so badly, that they will gladly carry the diamond for me back here… Heck, they will even be happy to watch us leave with their treasure!"
"If you say so…" I let go her paw. In retrospective, I should have taken that overconfidence as a sign that things would go south but our time was running out quickly. My mother gave me a thumbs up and disappeared beneath the bushes.
Fifteen minutes later, the volcano erupted for first time in six hundred years. Or so it seemed. From my position, I watched how all the lights at the rodent village suddenly lit. I saw the shadows of the natives running scared for some moments and then gathered in front of the big hut that belonged to the king. A pair of minutes later, some drums were heard. Ceremonial tunes. They were taking the diamond out. The plan worked!
It worked and then crashed. On the other side of the hill, the human tourists were so excited by the thundering display that started to shout in unison "Again! Again!". I looked awestruck at the hotel manager ordering his technicians to make the volcano erupt again! The mountain exploded in a fiery demonstration that delighted the humans in such way that a third eruption was ordered immediately! Oh mother, if only you had foreseen how much American tourists love huge, multicolored explosions…
The drums at the village changed their tune. Now the air was filled with a raging sentiment. A series of torches were lit in the darkness and marched in the direction of the nearest beach. I decided to run and help my mother. Silly me, she already had a backup plan. A hidden boat was waiting for her behind some rocks. I arrived at the beach just in time to watch her load the big diamond aboard and set sails off this island.
"Mother, wait for me!" I yelled frantically.
"Sorry dear!" I managed to hear back from her. "But I've decided that this diamond will be my new daughter, hope you not mind!"
"Don't you dare leaving me here! I'll… I'll…" I tried to shout that I would kill her, but the words just didn't come out, instead, I just broke to cry. My own mother… can you believe it? To make things worse, the king and his warriors came out of the jungle armed to the teeth. I barely had time to hide behind a nearby rock.
The king cursed at my mother, and then gave orders to his soldiers. All of them took their bows out and ignited their arrows with fire from their torches. Then they aimed at my mother's boat. At the king's signal, a rain of fire descended towards her. Strangely enough, a sudden gust of wind helped all the arrows to reach their target. The last thing I heard from my mother was a mixed yell of terror and incredulity. Her wooden boat burned in a big flame and sank. At once, some natives entered the water not to save my mother, but to recover their sacred diamond.
"Mother!" I yelled at the scene unable to contain my… grief? Up to this day I don't know what it was. And obviously, the natives noticed me.
"That's the demon's daughter!" The king said pointing his spear to me. "Get her!"
I ran back to the jungle half-blinded with tears and pursued by the angered warriors and villagers, but fate wasn't done toying with me yet. Somehow I ran off the main road that goes to the human's buildings and went directly to the jungle. And somehow I stumbled and fell just next to… a pipe valve.
In less than a second, I remembered the designs the humans had for their fake volcano and, if I was correct, this emergency valve was used to liberate pressure and could fake a minor eruption. As you can imagine, I let the king and his warriors reach me and then I taught them who their god's chosen one was… And so I was saved, at least until you appeared!
* 3 *
Lawhinie finished her story and sat again on her bed. "Out of greed, a mother left his husband. Out of greed, a mother betrayed her daughter. Out of greed, a mother died. So, in comparison, I'm not that bad, chipmunk"
Chip Maplewood shook his head and glared at the mouse. "Not so bad? You tried to kill us all just to become queen of this island!"
"Oh, stop that! You are still alive, don't you? All's well that ends well"
"Hu-huh... I'd say you are a bit psycho" He commented, not without sarcasm.
"Nonsense!" She countered, and then closed her eyes to recite a strange sentence. "Greed is good, greed is right, greed works…"
"Greed clarifies" the detective chimed in. "Cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Yes, I also saw 'Wall Street'"
"Obviously" She observed. Then, a flirting smile appeared on her mouth. "Well, now that we have something in common, would you help me get out of this cell?"
Chip shook his head amused. "Sorry Lawhinie, but you'll be held here some weeks. Consider yourself lucky we convinced these natives to spare your life"
Lawhinie sighed resigned. "Fate still continues toying with me, it seems..." She whispered, and then jumped out the bed to confront her captor again. "Ok then...Is your curiosity satisfied now? Because I don't feel like talking to you anymore for free"
"Yes, thanks for your time" Chip answered grateful. "Tonight my friends and I are leaving to America" Chip noticed a glimpse of sadness in Lawhinie's eyes. It was there for less than a second and hidden right away under a wolfish stare. He got closer and patted the girl's shoulder. "However... If you ever learn about this virtue called 'generosity', look for us. I believe we can still be friends"
"Generosity? Ha! Not in this life!" Offended, the female mouse turned her back on him. She was good at maintaining facades, Chip concluded.
"Give it a try" The detective tipped his hat smiling. "Goodbye Lawhinie".
As he was walking out the guarded hut, Chip heard a faint answer from the girl who almost killed him the night before. "Goodbye Chip..."
The end
