Thuds on foliage made quick crackles from the cast out twigs and brush that were trampled over by human limbs. A small, panicked body came rushing down the mountain like a little rockslide, kicking up dirt in the cooling night. Zigzags were his paths on the uncertain ground, dodging the lodged rocks and thornbush and cactus, hurtling over ditches the floods had carved out, all the while doing his best not trip on the slope. He did, however, and fell onto the shifting gravel, knees first, skidding onto the base of the vale, scraping up his skin––though, adrenaline pushed this awareness aside and he continued in his frightened flight onto the next hill.

He pushed himself with an abundance of energy halfway up the knoll, but began to slow down and tire out before reaching the top. He finished his ascent by crawling on his hands and feet like a bear, and then collapsed upon attaining the summit, prostrated on the chilled desert sediment.

The boy laid there for a bit.

The wind picked up slightly and rustled nearby sedge. He lifted up his head from the ground, spitting out some particles, and looked around.

Farther than ever he had peered before, he looked out into the dark expanse below him to the point where the boundaries between the sky and earth were obscured by a vast shelf of clouds and became fixated.

Distance echoes of howling made by a pack of coyotes reverberated into his ears. He suddenly remembered forgotten dangers and without looking, threw himself into a sprint down the hill.

The land began to flatten into a bowl and Philo found himself within a basin of shadows that was hidden away from the moon. He could not see around and gain his bearings, thus twirling in all directions. Taking a few steps backwards, he walked right into an extremely solid object that did not feel like a boulder or tree. Philo jumped with fright and spun around to see what it was.

In the blackness he could make out a huge shadow shifting which then let out a loud ambiguous cry that nearly scared the young boy to death.

He fled the fastest he could up the side of the basin where it was especially steep and barely was he able to pull himself up on the other side.

Without hesitation, he spotted a structure below him and jolted there. It was a large building with a shiny, greyish exterior made with material Philo was unfamiliar with. He approached slowly to observe whether it was occupied and then searched for an entrance. All he could make out was darkness inside. The walls were see-through but they did not allow access until Philo found an opening on the far side.

Once inside, his eyes began to adjust and assist his ears in scoping out the place. Big heavy rectangular objects were everywhere, on the ground, stacked on the shelves that were twice the height of the boy. He looked through the walls onto the hill he had just ran down to see if anyone had followed him––No one. Avoiding the generous amount of moonlight that penetrated the building, Philo passed all the shelves and found a separate smaller room that appeared secure.

After some time, the boy situated himself in the corner and promptly fell asleep.

A familiar birdsong awoke Philo in an unfamiliar place. His dark groping the night previously did not make him truly aware of what surrounded him when he fell asleep. Strange objects made of all sorts of shapes and colors were scattered all over the floor. Some were simple and round while others were much more complicated. On the walls were images of people and animals depicted next to unknown symbols that enameled the room. One animal, he observed, was large and white with black spots all over it next to a man who was touching the animals pink stomach over a bucket. Both the man and animal were happy and had smiles on their faces. They were next to two shapes, one big and one small that both resembled crescent moons.

Feeling overwhelmed by the unknown in his sleepy state, Philo exited the room into the larger space of the building he was in. Everything was more visible due to the fledgling daylight that broke through the see-through walls. The square objects he had noticed previously were strewn everywhere, making it look the place had been abandoned for some time. He picked one up. It folded open and what looked like pale leaves from a tree bounded together began to cascade.

When a few seconds had passed and he still hadn’t understood the purpose of the thing, he threw it aside and headed towards the exit.

Healing blue light of the morning greeted his eyes and a hidden relief began to well within as he stepped out into the wilderness. Wanting to retrace his steps back home he cautiously climbed back up the hill and approached the basin he fled from the previous night. He remembered the creature that attacked him and was not looking forward to confronting such a thing again. On attaining the range, he looked down below.

Spread out in front of him were dozens of the big black-and-white animals which he had just seen depicted on the wall, all grazing quietly in pastural solitude.

With care, the boy chose his steps down the slope to get a better look at one. He came from behind it and began to hear that loud smacking of its lips from the grass it was chewing.

Philo stepped on a twig.

The ungulate animal stopped and turned its head over its shoulder and made eye contact.

“Mmaaaow!”

On hearing the same noise he heard the night before, the boy out of a reaction of fear, pivoted in an instant and ran back up the knoll.

Knowing nowhere else to go, Philo returned back to the building and to the room he slept in.

Falling into a depression, he went into the corner and sat down on the floor, holding his knees close to his body. Never had he felt so lonely in his life and feelings of dread ate up his lifeforce. He thought about his mom and how much he missed her and how much she probably missed him. He thought about all the kids and people in his village who were all smart enough to know not to leave the canyon, especially by yourself. Philo felt stupid and inferior. He couldn’t even remember why he left in the first place, which made him even sadder and he began to weep into his sleeves.

After a while, his tears began to dry up but his overall mood did not change. Not knowing what to do, he remained catatonic in that spot for a few hours and did nothing. He didn’t even look around at the strange objects surrounding him until suddenly, he became aware that there were a pair of eyes gazing at him. In a flash upon realizing this, he tried to comprehend the mass of piled objects that obfuscated whomever or whatever was staring at him but couldn’t.

“Who’s there!”

Silence.

He looked into the unblinking eyes and rushed towards them. Suddenly he heard:

“Put on your thinking cap!”

Philo halted and tried to understand what he had just heard.

The same words were repeated.

Philo with hesitation was quickly trying to decide between fight or flight, but upon remembering he had already been there for some time and whatever it was that was speaking to him could have already hurt him, he decided to uncover whatever was talking to him from the pile.

What he found was even stranger than the objects he had thrown aside. He picked up a baby-sized animal with blue fur and large ears and held it out in front of him. It suddenly began to squirm. The startled boy dropped the little blue animal and sprawled backwards towards the opposite side of the room.

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“Hello, I’m Albert the bear, please put on your thinking cap if you would like to start!”

The creature moved both of its arm up and down as it laid on its back on the floor

Philo was shocked, he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what a ‘thinking cap’ was.

“Hi… I’m Philo. I- .”

“Please stand me upright for proper authentication.”

Philo again tried to puzzle out these words but then understood the parts he knew and followed the direction. He cautiously scooped up the twitching thing and put it on its short legs, allowing its black beady-eyes to take in the image of Philo.

“Put on your thinking cap!” it said again, lifting both of its hands just above its head.

The boy thought as hard as he could to understand what the creature meant. He then had an idea.

“Hold on” he told it, and left the room.

Returning at once, he had in his hand one of the square leaved objects that were scattered all over the floor. He moved into the sight of Albert and stood center.

Lifting the square-object above his head, he placed it on his crown and tried to keep it balanced, but as soon as he took his hands away it fell. He picked it up and tried again, and finally was able to steady it on his head.

With tremendous effort, he struggled to keep his body up and the thing steady. When he felt like he reached some balance, he let his eyes fall upon Albert.

“Wonderful! Let us begin!”

Philo smiled with satisfaction from whatever he had accomplished. The creature put its arms down and began to glow.

“Do you know your ABCs?” it questioned.

“My what?”

“Do you know your ABCs?”

“Uh­­… “

The boy was again stumped by the situation.

“Alright, let’s begin!” and then the little creature broke out into a song that used random sounds instead of words.

Still with the heavy object on his head, Philo began to struggle to maintain his posture and started to slightly perspire, but he remained fixated on the performance that was taking place before him.

“…now we know our ABCs”, Albert finished with, which was the only part Philo understood, though he didn’t understand.

“That was great!” it continued “Let’s go through the alphabet and see if you can think of a word that starts with the same letter. Ready?” but before Philo could answer it commenced without delay.

“Can you tell me what starts with the letter A?”

Philo knitted his eyebrows and stared into the seemingly dead eyes of the inquirer.

“That’s right! A is for ant!” it answered for itself.

With excitement Philo almost jumped upon hearing a concept he had recognized. He knew what an ant was, and this made him recall something from earlier. Holding the ‘thinking cap’ down on his head so it wouldn’t fall, he craned his neck up and searched through all the images above him on the wall. On one end, near the crescent shapes, there appeared to be what looked like a single ant but much larger than any Philo had ever seen. He looked at the symbols next to it which resembled a hut and the setting sun if you titled your head sideways.

“Alright, next one! Can you tell me what starts with the letter ‘B’?”

He looked at the next image. Again he became excited when he realized what it was: A ‘thinking cap’ just like the one Philo had on his head.

“That’s right! B is for book!”

“Book?” Philo repeated.

He took the thinking cap off his head and started to examine it, flipping open the leaves, when he realized the light that was glowing from Albert had gone out and he had stopped moving. Taking the book with both hands, he raised it above his head and balanced himself again.

“Alright, next one!”

Now Philo was ready. He looked at the next symbols that looked like crescent moons.

“Can you tell me what starts with the letter ‘C’?”

He looked at the image of the black-and-white animal that had frightened him so much squatting next to the man in a straw hat who looked so happy, trying to unlock it’s meaning. It must have something to do with what he’s doing, touching it’s stomach, Philo thought to himself.

“That’s right! C is for cow!”

“Cow?” Philo echoed, pondering this odd utterance.

“Alright, next one!”

“Hold on, Mr. Albert, can you tell more about ‘cow’ please?” the boy implored.

The bear ignored Philo’s question.

“Can you tell me what begins with the letter ‘D’?” Albert asked.

He looked up to see the next image which was of another unknown animal with a long tongue sticking out of its mouth.

“That’s right! D is for dog!”

“Dog?” Philo said with confusion. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed by all this new knowledge, but then an idea came to him.

“Hold on, Albert, I want to go try something.” Philo said, “Stay right here, and I’ll be back soon”

“Alright! Next one…”

The boy exited the building and headed back to the pasture above. Upon attaining the ridge, he looked over the grazing animals below up towards the mountains, the tall magnificent dual peaks he had known his entire life and affirmed himself. Keeping a grip on the book still placed on his head, he descended cautiously. This time Philo wasn’t as afraid as he was before, knowing what he now knew. Just by having the knowledge of the name of this animal gave him a newfound confidence that allowed the boy to face what was once unknown to him. He slowly approached the closest one, which was larger than the rest.

“Hey cow… Hey cow…” Philo softly entreated.

On the long green grass right at his feet he noticed an old, rusted bucket lying on its side. Philo picked it up and looked inside of it. Then, he recommenced his wooing of the cow by continuing to speak its name softly. The ruminating animal didn’t seem to even notice Philo was there and continued to chew on the mushy blades in its mouth. He put the bucket below its belly like the image that was now pressed into his memory had instructed and stooped down, still maintaining the book on his head. The bosom of the cow hung down and slowly, Philo reached for it, grabbing one of the teats. It felt squishy and warm.

He held on for a half-minute.

Nothing happened. He looked over at the cow to check for a reaction and wondered if it was happy.

The cow turned its head around and eyed the boy, which startled him, almost making him lose his balance. He gripped onto the dangling things to steady himself­­­­––in an instant, white liquid came shooting out of the cow which surprised him even further. He peered down inside the bucket where the liquid had landed. Philo could not help but smile to himself, as he began comprehending the objective at hand.

He repeated the same action, squeezing at the pap. More came out.

For the next few minutes, Philo was fully immersed in this newfound activity and patiently observed the white liquid filling the bucket. He wondered how much liquid could possibly come out.

“Sniff, sniff… “

From out of nowhere, flaring nostrils and a mouth appeared on the other side of the cow’s stomach, startling Philo once again and sending him onto the grass. Another smaller cow had approached the larger one and now had one of the paps in its mouth and began sucking. Philo observed for a bit and slowly picked himself up and grabbed the bucket, which was now almost a quarter full. He wondered what this liquid was and why it came out of the animal. The boy had known all kinds of animals, animals that could fly in the sky, or dig beneath the earth, or even make their own homes, but never had he known an animal that was so big and so strange.

He decided he would take the bucket back to the building and ask Albert more about the cow and the liquid.

With the handle in hand, Philo made his way over the hill and returned to the room filled with oddities.

“…that’s right! K is for king!”

Albert the bear was still reciting his wisdom as the boy returned and presented his newfound object in front of him.

“Look, Albert! This is from the cow!”

“Alright next one! Can you tell me what starts with the letter ‘L’?“ was its curt reply.

“I just began squeezing at its stomach and a bunch of this liquid came out!”

“That’s right! L is for ladybug! Alright next one!”

“Would you happen to know why this liquid comes out of the cow?" Philo asked earnestly, "I’ve never seen an animal do something so strange–“

“Can you tell me what starts with the letter ‘M’?”

Philo was beginning to wonder if he was being ignored.

“That’s right! M is for milk!” Albert proclaimed.

At a lost for meaning, Philo gazed up at the symbols above. He searched for the red-and-black colors of the bug he was already familiar with. About halfway through the letters Philo found the ladybug and observed the subsequent symbols that looked like mountains. Right next to them was a cylinder that was almost completely white next to a square object that had a cow on it.

“Milk?”

Philo looked down into the pool of white liquid he had accumulated in his bucket.

After mulling over this information for a few moments, a sudden feeling came over Philo and he remembered how he thirsty was. Taking the bucket with both hands, he brought it up to his lips and began to drink.