The first thing he could remember was how his brother Jonnie showed him how to suckle milk from their mother properly. Of all the things he had experienced in the Shed, this was probably the farthest back in time - when the sun used to shine until late after dinner and they'd be awakened early in the morning by the strange noises from beyond.Freddie was by no means a stupid guinea pig, though. Apart from a few difficulties he might have gotten into at that time, he was, or rather had become, a very lively, happy and clever fella. He had grown considerably since the warm days when he had been born, now being almost the size of his mother. His fur was, as that of all his sisters and brothers, straight and bore a colorful pattern. Freddie himself, for distinguishing features, had a black ring around his left eye and and large dark brown spot on his back left side. Sometimes he would get a bit frustrated since he couldn't offer as many contrasts and varying patterns as those some of his brothers and friends bragged around with - but the little fights they had sometimes gotten into when they were still very little were now a thing of the past.

Jonnie was his twin, and just a little bit older than him. He was, of course, Freddie's brother; but he was also his best friend, someone he could doubtlessly trust and who would always understand him. In the time that was now so many days ago that he couldn't tell just how many (for guinea pigs, it can be hard to learn how to count, having four fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot - Freddie often caught himself counting in eights or twelves), the two would be together having fun almost all of the time. Sometimes, they'd run and jump about squeakingly in their house till their mother lost her nerves and ordered them to continue outside. It was of course always very warm at that time, and they'd be rejoicing the fresh air that the blue sky above seemed to overflow with. There was a hollow log at one end of the Shed which they'd adapted as their playground. They could jump on top and down again, run through it, play hide and seek there or just try to scare each other in the dark inside.

The Shed was a large place of rectangular shape, with wooden walls at its borders so tall nobody could really tell what was outside them. (Once, Freddie's younger brother Dickie had tried to jump across; He had taken a fast accelerating run and then jumped suprisingly high, but still, he only banged his nose into the wood at only a third of its height. Since then, some of the other guinea pigs jokingly called Dickie 'Flatnose'.) It was wide and spacious enough to be a comfortable place for all of Freddie's relatives, friends and their families. His father had once told him that he had tried to count everyone and he thought that there must be about seventy, even eighty guinea pigs in the Shed. This was so big a number that Freddie couldn't really imagine it. There were about a dozen large houses for them, not all of which were in use sometimes, since there weren't as many families, and some guinea pigs, like Freddie's father, preferred staying outside and sleeping in bunches of hay. But still, the houses never really got deserted since they could always serve as exciting places to play at.

There were many theories and rumors as to what was going on outside the Shed. In the warm days of Freddie's infancy, there was the open sky above them and they could see clouds passing and would have to deal with rainfall at times; It always mashed the dry food they got in bowls, but the Keeper would always replace it afterwards. (Freddie didn't like much of it anyway, he always picked himself some grain out and left the rest alone, while Jonnie could easily diet on the dry food and skip lettuce and carrots.)Sometimes, they could make out flying creatures high above the Shed that seemed to sail on the winds, were these flying guinea pigs? Not even Freddie's wise grandmother, who otherwise used to come up with feasible explanations for everything, could tell. One day, as it sometimes occured, one of those creatures landed on the edge of the wooden wall while Freddie was just eating in company of Jonnie. Freddie, who was something between astonished, excited and fearful at its near sight, asked it, "Hello, flying guinea pig! How come you can fly?", But the creature didn't answer and flew away.
The many noises from outside were also a reason for concern and reflection. While guinea pigs already have a very elaborate language of sqeaking and cooing, the many things they heard from beyond the wooden wall were just too strange for them to explain. Although Freddie surely enjoying listening to them. There was everything from squeaks (but different, louder and deeper) to bleating (that almost sounded like a laugh) to lowing (a very low, loud sound) to neighing (high and sometimes quite fierce) to clucking (though it was rather faint) to crowing (mostly in the morning) to mumbling (which sounded like what the Keeper sometimes uttered - a strange way of communication, Jonnie thought), and also humming and whirring and growling, the latter even making the ground vibrate! Were there other guinea pigs outside who could utter these sounds? Maybe they were much larger or more intelligent and advanced? Or was the Keeper doing all this?

The Keeper was quite generally an unexplainable phenomenon. He was a tall, slim creature who could apparently walk on only two legs! The guinea pigs looked at him, some, like Freddie, in awe, some in suspicion and some rather indifferently, whenever he brought them food (there always was, apart from the dry food, a mostly delicious variety of lettuce, carrots and other vegetables, and fruits - apples or the like), filled the water bottles with fresh water or cleaned the Shed by removing and replacing dirty hay and straw. This mysterious creature is surely benevolent, most used to conclude.
But then again, some guinea pigs thought the Keeper was a mischievous spirit. Friends of Freddie's parents' brought up the topic every now and then and tried to warn them and their children. They used to say, "Hide from the Keeper! Or he will take you away!". And there was a point in that. Early in his life, Freddie had experienced it for the first time. One warm sunny day, the Keeper came up the Shed, but he suprisingly didn't do any of his usual duties. Instead, his majestic hands grabbed Zackie, one of the older children (he was a son of Freddie's parents' friends) and, despite his desperate effort to flee, took him up and beyond the wooden wall. His parents could still hear Zackie squeak, but after a short while and some mumbling, nothing more could be heard. Zackie never returned to the Shed.
It happened again just before it started to get cold and the Keeper closed the Shed from above. This time, though, Freddie didn't witness it - he was just taking a nap in the hollow log, where Jonnie, Dickie (he never called him Flatnose since his mother had taught him to be good to his equals) and him had been hanging out all day. But again, a couple was in tears since their child had been taken away. Freddie didn't know that family so much, but, since it had happened again, he felt concerned. When he returned to his house in the evening, he brought up the topic to his parents.
He asked them, "Where are they taken? Why are they taken? What is behind the wall? I want to know!"
His mother looked at him pensively and replied, "Son, we do not know. There must be a reason for it all. I'm sure it's for their good. The Keeper wouldn't do us any harm. He gives us food and keeps us healthy, clean and warm when it's cold."
"But I want to find out!"
"Son, there is no way of doing that. We belong here, in the Shed; We cannot know what's beyond. Only the chosen few will ever know."
His father smiled at him. "Go to bed, little rascal. It's late," he said.

The following day, when Freddie and his two brother-playmates found themselves around the hollow log again, Freddie asked them about their opinions.
Jonnie thought, "Hm, I don't know. I'm a bit suspicious. I won't readily go out there till I know what awaits me! And if the Keeper wants to take me, I'll bite his hands!"
Dickie just said, "I don't want the Keeper to take me. But if he takes me, I guess I can't do anything about it, can I? Maybe it's supposed to be that way then."
Now, Freddie felt even more puzzled. The following time, he was somewhat restless, but nonetheless afraid of the outside. But he couldn't just go and return at his will, could he?

That was when one day, the Keeper put a covering on the Shed as to protect it from the cold outside. It also gradually got much warmer inside strangely, almost like in the warm sunny days which had already long been over then. Freddie's mother and father had seen this three times before, so they assured their daughters and sons that there was nothing wrong about it. The cover itself was kind of strange too, Freddie could still see the sky above, but no rain (or snow, which he first experienced later) would trespass it. The Keeper could however at his will lift part of it so he could reach inside the Shed.
Life could thus continue unchanged among the guinea pigs. As time went by, Freddie, Jonnie, Dickie and their other sisters and brothers grew more and more, but one could still tell that they were very young. Also, they still enjoyed playing a great deal and kept on coming up with new games to play out and about or even in the house (Although their parents steadily disapproved of that - One day, they even sent Corie, the youngest of the twins, outside to spent the night in the hay since he had almost dislocated the house by his jumping and running. However, Corie turned out bragging about it, claiming, "Only real men do this, and I've had the courage!".).

Freddie made some new acquaintances as well. He had made friends with China, a girl from the house next door, when they both argued about who should receive the bigger piece of pepper. Freddie had insisted for a while that he deserved it, but then done her the favor.  She was almost his age, only a few days younger as far as they could tell. They were hanging around, chatting and playing, every now and then now. Although some boys were still saying that playing with girls was uncool, Freddie felt comfortable spending time with China. One day, as they were stolling about, their topic got to the guinea pigs that had been taken away by the Keeper. China had an exciting story to tell.
She opened her eyes wide and said, "You know what? My grandfather told me that he had been taken away once. It was long ago, but he still remembered everything about it! He confided this to me on the condition that I shouldn't tell everyone, but I just have to tell you! Well, the thing was, in the time when it was cold long ago and the Shed was covered, he was taken out by the Keeper, but - the Keeper put him back in the Shed straight afterwards!"
"Wow! What did he see? What did the Keeper do?", Freddie boast out.
China answered excitedly, "As it appears, there was another Keeper-creature with the Keeper! But it was smaller and didn't reach inside the Shed. When grandfather was taken out, he saw the Keeper up-close, and also the other creature, and also the outside of the Shed! It was huge, he said it was a hundred times wider than the Shed, maybe even more!"
"What happened? The Keeper sat him back inside?"
"Yes, the two big creatures seemed to talk or so, exchanging those strange mumbles, and then back again he was!"
"That's incredible!"
"Yes, but what's even more interesting, grandfather saw vast, huge Sheds, loads of them, and even other creatures walking on four legs! He was certain that these were no guinea pigs. Or if they were, they were very different from us!"
Freddie couldn't believe what he had just learnt. His thoughts were in a turmoil; He felt more desperate than ever to solve the mystery. But he was afraid. Was the big world outside the Shed, however exciting it had to be, really a friendly place? And, the most imminent obstacle was still that he didn't know how to go beyond the wooden wall by his mere force.

Next

© 2001 by Stefan Hauschildt. All rights reserved.