ENG / GER

As far as one could see, no gras, no tree. Only the little house that he lived in and the street in front of it, which was leading towards the horizon. As long as he could remember, he was living here and enjoyed it, recently however, there was a feeling coming up inside of him, which he was unable to put into words. 

In fact, this feeling had been there for quite a while, he just did not know what to do about it. 

The world that he lived in was different from the world we live in and to enter this world, requires a healthy amount of fantasy. Infinity, he did not only experience when looking up to the stars, infinity he would also see on the horizon. For his world was the  lowlands. The never ending lowlands.

One evening he was sitting on the roof of his house smoking a cigarette, while staring into the distance. This indescribable feeling always grabbed hold of him then, when he had his eyes exactly there, where he had them in this moment. As this night, a tear was rolling down his cheek, he whispered. 

“Tomorrow morning I will be gone." And in that instant he got up to pack his bag.

-

He felt a bit stupid, when the next morning, he was standing on the other side of the street, holding out his thumb while looking up the never-ending road towards northwest. He was waiting for something of which he was actually not sure it existed, a car he had never seen on this road.  The fear of being let down by his intuition was resting on his shoulders. Hours went by and the sun was standing high above him. It was almost midday, his suitcase he was already holding in his hand, to get back into the house, when he saw a tiny dot on the horizon, which gradually got bigger and bigger.

„What the hell?“, he thought, as a car was approaching him. It was a duck and in this duck there was a duck, which, with its eyes wide open and at an incredible speed was coming right at him. In the distance, he heard the squeaking of the breaks and like a train, the car came to a halt, right in front of him.

"Hello." He greeted the duck. “Can you give me a ride?, he asked. The duck did not take her eyes off that road. 

„I am warning you..“, it said calmly. „The road is not home to everybody! Some get lost and die lonely." - “I can deal with that!" He said and without hesitation, sat down on the passenger seat. 

For many miles not a single word was spoken, until he broke the silence. “My whole life I have been living in this house, asking myself where this street might go. And now I am sitting here." The duck scratched her beak. “My whole life I have been behind this wheel. Never would I have thought to give someone a ride!" At 120 the duck suddenly looked at him and asked with a calm, intrigued voice: “Why did you go out on the street?" 

He apathetically stared into the distance. The road marking shot past, underneath the car. 

“To leave the lowlands." He said it with such certainty, that he was surprised himself. The Eyes of the duck started shining. These words triggered such a euphoria, that it started quaking frantically, while repeatedly hitting the horn. As it calmed down, it leaned back into the seat. ”I’m coming with you!”, the duck screamed, hitting the horn one more time.

-

They went east. The ducks foot, flooring the pedal. They now knew their goal. They now knew where the road would lead them. On this street without a beginning, on this street without an end. It seemed to them, as if they had lived their life for this very moment. Now, that everything was now. The landscape flew past them. The dawn was shining on the horizon. Through the open window came the warm air and with it a smell, which reminded him of something, from so long ago, he did not even try to define it.

But it was back and that he loved very much. 

Signs of civilisation started showing up. From the distance, electrical towers came closer, which were finally standing next to the street. They drove by a sign which said „Chop Suey“. 

„I know this place!“ The duck mumbled, „..and I don’t want to stay there longer, then absolutely necessary!“ It all of a sudden seemed very agitated as in front of them, the first skyscrapers started growing into the sky. Grey, dark towers. They were coming closer. The size of this city was hard to put into words. „Lord Almighty!“ He screamed, as they were approaching the city, as they were going into this labyrinth of concrete. 

„Where is everybody?“ He asked, his eyes wide open. „Why do you think, not a single car came our way?“ The duck wanted to know. „You tell Me!“ He scratched his head. „Because no-one is living here anymore! Boredom made them move away.

“ For an eternity they drove through that city, until they finally stopped, shortly before downtown. „This is Godfrey’s milkbar. And as I know Godfrey, he is in there serving milk!“. 

They entered the bar. Godfrey was an Orang-Utan, who was holding on to a rail on the ceiling, while with his feet playing Halma against a regular customer. „I can’t believe it!“ Godfrey screamed, „YOU, I was not expecting! A cup of milk, for you and your friend?“ They sat down at the bar. The guest next to them was a big, fat fly. Its butt was balancing on a stool, which seemed to burst any second. In front of the fly was a couple of empty cups. “My whole life I have spent in this bar, the world outside I have never seen. Always when someone stumbles across this place, I ask the same question: “Where will you go, when you leave this bar?“ The duck took a huge sip from the milk, took a look at him, sitting right next to it and said: “We’re about to leave the lowlands“

Silence came over them. Like magic, this never thought before thought went through their heads. As this idea settled in their mind, madness broke loose! Godfrey swung through the bar and  took everything off the wall, he could hold on to, while he was screaming and hitting his own head. The fly was laughing and flapping her wings! „We’re coming with you!“, it screamed, „Finally we’re getting out of this fucking bar!“ Together, they went outside, blinded by the sun, which in this world never fully set. There was only one problem: The fly was too big. It did not fit into the car. They already had trouble getting her through the door of the bar! „Damn it!“ The fly screamed, „Leave me behind, for god sake!“ They pushed, they squeezed, but they could not get the fly into the car! 

All of a sudden the duck had an idea. She went to the trunk and got two ropes. „We put you on the roof Fly!“ It said relaxed and started preparing everything. The fly lay on the roof and with its belly down got fixed to the car. 

As Godfrey got on the backseat, the duck put itself behind the wheel and he sat on the passenger seat, the car was obviously overloaded, but they managed to drive off anyway. The fly had to laugh, as the duck was manoeuvring through the empty streets. Like at the bottom of a canyon, a dark shadow was hanging in-between the buildings, the air was cold and besides of the calming sound of the car, it was completely silent„These are the ruins of a failed society!“ Godfrey said as he was looking out of the window. „The one, who back then had to work for those on the top floors, is now free! Free from the boredom that came with his work ..“ It took forever until they could finally leave behind these gigantic buildings, which where standing there, mile high. Gradually the houses got smaller and they finally came out, at the other end of the city. The towers disappeared behind them and ahead was just the road. - The fly fell a sleep. -  Relieved, Godfrey pulled out three bottles of milk and handed them out. He leaned back and put the bottle down on his enormous belly. „My whole life, I have been dreaming about leaving this place. Never would I have thought to be actually leaving!“ Pleasurably he was sucking on his bottle. The everlasting light was shining, as they had hardly ever experienced it before. Golden yellow it was coming in through the windshield. Further and further the street took them, stronger grew the feeling of freedom. It got brighter around them. The car seemed to get faster, as if the shining would attract them! The duck got scared! Never before had she been traveling at such speed! She handed over her milk bottle and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. Also Godfrey, who so far was hanging on the backseat was now sitting upright.

-

In this moment the fly had a dream. A dream so beautiful, that one would regret waking up from it. So full of joy, that one does not question its reality. The fly dreamed about leaving the lowlands. With a blessed smile on her, from the contrary wind, distorted face, it started flapping its wings, so that the car kept lifting off the street. „What’s happening?!“ The duck screamed in disbelief. They were busy, keeping the car on track. „What on earth is happening?!!“ The fly started flapping her wings and the car lifted off the street. Gently they glided into the air and disappeared into the light. 

The End