The End Is The New Beginning

This week's exercise is to supply an alternate ending to Neil Gaiman's short story Babycakes. The alternate ending should be more than 150 words. Here's what I did (in italics):


Alternate Ending

With the animals gone, what else could we do?

Some people complained, of course. But then, they always do.

And everything went back to normal.

But then the animals came back. All of them.

Dogs, cats, cows, birds, bears, snakes, fishes, lizards. All of them.

There was something different about them. They don’t scratch themselves. They looked clean. They don’t bark, purr, howl, hiss, croak or play chase. They made noises to each other as if they were saying things among themselves. And they walked upright.

They stared at us humans all day. They pointed at us with their paws, hooves and claws.

We didn’t know what to do.

A few of us locked ourselves inside our houses. Some of us shut our windows to avoid their stares. Many called the local veterinarian to do something. Anything.

Others got out with their shotguns to get rid of them beasts. They shot at the animals and burned their carcasses. They trampled on the little ones and built fences to ward off the large ones.

But the animals kept staring.

Autumn came. Golden leaves fell to the ground. Northern winds breathed a cold gale. The mist and fog pervaded the air.

Then the first of us began to disappear.

- END -