As time had thus gone by and Freddie had grown and felt less like a child himself, he also noticed a change in his sentiments towards his sisters, brothers and friends. He enjoyed talking more than ever; Sometimes, he would sit in the hollow log with Jonnie until late after dark and discuss things like their time during the warmer days, which food they liked best and whether it was healthy for them, or who might be the cleverest, fastest, laziest or most colorful guinea pig in the Shed.

Freddie also felt more and more attached to China. They sometimes spent whole days together just lying side by side, running around until they were exhausted, or eating their meals secludedly inside the hollow log. Freddie felt he could talk about anything with China and that she would listen to him, but also that he could have the silliest of fun with her and both would have a jolly good time, laughing and giggling all the time. It was strange how he felt. He couldn't quite explain it to himself. Whenever he was with China, he felt so comfortable and at ease, he had never felt this relaxed and joyful, it seemed to him. He enjoyed the time China and he spent so much, sometimes he couldn't sleep at home until late at night because he couldn't stop thinking of the beautiful time he had had with China during the day, or because he was eager to meet her again the next day. Even the questions about the world outside the Shed, which used to arouse him so much, were often brushed aside.
One night, when they were about to part and go home, Freddie felt like confessing to China that he was so happy to have her as a friend. He said to her, "China, before you go home, I'd just like to say thank you for being my friend. I've never had this nice a time in my whole life. I hope we can always be friends."
China smiled at him. But she only said, "I think so too. Good night, Freddie." and gave him a little kiss on his left cheek, just below his dark eye pattern, before she returned to her house.
Freddie slept deeply and silently that night, an expression of happiness and contentment all over his face.

Soon, it snowed for the first time. Freddie and his twins had never seen those dubious white flakes falling from the sky on the Shed's cover, but their father explained it to them by telling them that when it's cold outside, rain can't fall and because there has to be something it's just switched to snow. (Dickie wondered if raindrops are afraid of the cold and prefer staying home in the clouds. This made sense to Freddie.) Freddie and all the others' fur was also in the process of becoming a bit thicker.
This was when it started. In the beginning, one more guinea pig was taken away by the Keeper. This troubled Freddie a lot, but he thought that now that it had been done again, he would be safe for the time being. But then, just as he was running towards the hollow log with China, his brother Corie was grabbed by the Keeper. Corie had just embarked on a mock chase with one of his friends and was pacing around vividly, giving squeaking noises. At that moment, the cover was opened partly and the Keeper's long arm reached inside and tried to grab Corie. Freddie witnessed it directly. Corie started immediately and was terrified - He managed to escape the clutching hand and tried to run to safety. But the Keeper couldn't be taken aback and tried once more. With a calculated quick grab, Corie was his. He lifted Freddie's brother, who sqeaked and squeaked, but there was no escape. Freddie screamed "Corie!" and sqeaked horrifiedly, but there was nothing he could do. Freddie could make out the sihouette of another Keeper-creature beyond the wooden wall and still heard a faint ringing of Corie's desperate noises, but then it got calm again, and the Keeper was gone. And so was Corie.

Freddie was in shock during the following days. Of course, he had seen it happen before. But now, one of his brothers was gone. That made the whole affair a big deal more frightening and a new feeling of insecurity and helplessness arose in Freddie. Also, the big questions were brought to his consciousness again - Where had Corie been taken? Why had it been Corie of all the guinea pigs in the Shed? Was the position of being chosen after all a good, even admirable one? China listened to him and was there for him, for which Freddie was of course very grateful, but neither she could supply any answers.
He also talked to Jonnie about it, and Jonnie just seemed to be angry. "If the Keeper ever dares to take any of us away again, I'll scratch the skin off his arm!", he shouted decidedly. When the two came home that day, they were still in conversation about the topic. Their mother overheard them and asked them to come to her. The two brothers did and their mother took a deep breath.
"Well, kids. Actually, I can tell you what's going on," she said.
"What do you mean?", Jonnie asked.
"Well. This happens every year when it's getting cold and the Shed is covered. The Keeper takes a lot of us then each time. You have to be brave, whatever happens."
"I knew it! I'll be prepared!", Jonnie exclaimed angrily.
"But, why does this happen? Will we be taken away now?", Freddie inquired.
Their mother answered, "I don't know. You have to accept the Selection, whatever happens now. There is no way out of it, and the Keeper is good, bear that in mind. If anyone of us or the others is taken, which will probably occur, just be strong boys, please."
Jonnie said assuredly, "The Keeper shall feel just how strong I am!"
Their father had noticed that they were talking about the Selection and joined them. "Your mother and I have lived through this before," he said. "We noticed that the Keeper prefers young guinea pigs. So we suppose we'll be relatively safe now. But, boys..."
"We'll be out of here soon, won't we?", Freddie asked interruptingly. He felt crushed by the danger that had suddenly been made imminent to him. But he also felt that he should be brave and make the best out of it.
His father replied, "Nobody can tell. I sure don't hope so. Sometimes it's not even the Keeper who does the Selection. He seems to have strange allies at these times."
"Why didn't you tell us before?", Jonnie asked.
His mother, who was still speaking with a calm, tender voice, said, "We didn't want you to be scared. We wanted you to live happily during the warm days. But now it was time for you to know. And you're old enough now."
Freddie and Jonnie went for their dinner afterwards. But their minds were still with the mystery of the Keeper and the Selection.

Freddie's attitude changed. He couldn't as light-heartedly enjoy his hobbies and leisure time. He felt the urge always to be alarmed and prepared. As a matter of fact, China noticed his moodiness and asked him one afternoon, "Freddie, what's going on with you lately? Don't you feel like having fun at all? You seem so bleak sometimes."
Freddie didn't know if China had yet been informed about the Selection. But he doubted it. He just said, "I'm sorry, China. I don't know what's going on. Maybe the cabbage lately just wasn't well received by my system."

A few days after that, the Selection continued further. Freddie had already dined with China when it happened. The Keeper came to the Shed in company of two other similar creatures, one about his size and one a little smaller. They were mumbling in their strange language for a moment, which was when Freddie took notice of them. China and he were still in the hollow log, and Freddie whispered to her, "Look! There's the Keeper! I'm sure he's up to something now!". They stayed where they were, silently watching the raid.
The Keeper opened part of the cover, and bent his head over where some of the houses were. But then, he retreated and the smaller creature pointed out two guinea pigs who where just engaged in munching dry food from one of the bowls. The Keeper didn't hesitate, he grabbed the first little boy by surprise and took him straight away. His friend got shocked immediately and ran into a bunch of hay near the wooden wall, where she tried to hide. But the keeper, with a punctured move, managed to locate her among the hay and lifted her up. Both guinea pigs didn't even affect the Keeper's determination in their struggle to free themselves. It was all over after a short moment, with two more guinea pigs less in the Shed now.

More than ever, Freddie now felt helpless and exposed to the will of the Keeper. At the same time, however, he also experienced a new strange feeling of freedom. He felt as if he should live every day to the fullest now and not be dragged down by all the trouble the Selection had brought forward, since everything could be over anytime now (or at least, everything could cease and change to something completely unknown), and there was no way of forecasting his future, so he should better have a great time in the Shed as long as he still could. He also spent some time wondering where Corie and all the others might be now, and if they were happy, or maybe even much better off than in the Shed? He felt curious about the outside much more again and came to the conclusion that, should he be taken, he'd be strong and live through everything to come with a healthy optimism. This also helped relieve the tension from him.
He had a whole lot of fun with China again, and enjoyed the company of Jonnie and his other brothers, sisters and friends to the fullest. They did all sorts of things - sometimes they would, for example, eat a leaf of lettuce each to find out who was the fastest, or in the evenings, they'd try to scare each other with spooky stories they made up about the creatures making the noises beyond the wooden wall, or they'd try to learn the names of all of the Shed's guinea pigs by heart (they never succeeded).

One of those days, when it had long been cold outside and everyone had long gotten used to the days being considerably shorter now, Freddie was lying on top of the hollow log, China right next to him. They were overviewing the busy life in the distance, where guinea pigs were entering and leaving their houses, eating pieces of cucumber, drinking thurstily from the bottles or playing around in the midst of hay. They were trying to make out their friends and relatives amongst the flows of guinea pigs, but so far only Freddie had been able to discover Dickie (who had been busy taking a large leaf of lettuce home, probably because their mother had asked him to).
"Look at all the guinea pigs here", Freddie said pensively. "Some are young like us and don't have much of a worry in their lives. Some are old and live responsably with their families. And everyone's so different from the other... but it all works out well. I think the Shed is a real nice place."China didn't take her eyes off the traffic all over the Shed, but she said in a warm tone, "Yes, you're right. I think our lives in here will always be joyful. I hope I'll be as old as my grand-grandparents." She wasn't mentioning the threat the Selection posed, but Freddie didn't feel like doing that either, the mood being so tender and peaceful right now.He went on, "Yes, I sure want to be a good guinea pig. I'd like lots of children and I'll be a caring father."
China paused for a moment, and said, "Yes... I want to start a family too," while she leaned against Freddie softly.
The two remained like this silently until they got hungry.

As they went to get some food into their stomachs, Freddie wanted to stop and take a few gulps from one of the water bottles. He asked China not to wait for him and secure a place near where the Keeper had dropped leaves of lettuce and some fruit a while ago.
As he was drinking and feeling the fresh water running down into his belly, Freddie suddenly sensed a shadow over him. But it was too late. The Keeper's hand approached so quickly he could barely realize what was happening, and within the blink of an eye, he found himself trapped between the Keeper's fingers. In a fit of panic, he waved and thrust his limbs about with all his strenght. The Keeper didn't seem to expect this; He uttered a pain-stricken noise and released the pressure on Freddie. Freddie, who had hardly grasped the situation, escaped the Keeper's hand and ran as fast as he could. He passed by the crowd of guinea pigs which was just occupied by eating the fresh food, and thought he saw a glimpse of China having an expression of panic on her face, but entered the nearest house as quickly as possible. He was almost out of breath, but didn't dare to make any noise or even move. He rested for a few seconds and hoped he had made the escape, but all of a sudden, the whole house was lifted up, exposing Freddie, who was now an easy catch for the Keeper. Without any further ado, Freddie was caught in the Keeper's hand again, and however hard he tried to wriggle his way out of it, he was just too weak in comparison to this enormous power.He was lifted beyond the wooden wall and could catch one more blurry sight of the Shed's inside, but then he was put into a little box with only a few tiny holes for him too see through. He thought he saw another creature like the Keeper, which was handed the box, and some hints of what China's grandfather had reportedly seen - But Freddie was far too nervous and shocked to think clearly now. For a whole while, he only saw a fragment of the outside, and nothing he saw made any sense to him, nor had he ever seen any of it before. For most of it, the box he was inside was shaking and a loud humming, growling sound surrounded him.Freddie was totally confused. But he knew that there was no way back. He would never see Jonnie, Dickie, or any of his brothers, sisters and relatives again, nor his friends, nor China. He was as afraid as he had never been before. But now, he would finally find the answers to all the questions that had occupied him, more or less, almost since he could remember, and would find out where Corie and all the others had vanished to. Filled with a tension making him tremble, mixed with the painful sadness of having been torn away from everything and everyone he knew, he awaited whatever would happen now.

Next

© 2001 by Stefan Hauschildt. All rights reserved.