Po-Pee McGee and the Baby Salt Mines: Part One

note: I am going to try and restrain myself and post this in more than one part, so stay tuned!

Po-pee McGee wearily wiped the sweat off his bare head before retying the blue salt-encrusted bandana around his neck. The sun beating down on his brow was nothing compared to the glare from the surrounding salt flats, and he squinted his eyes against the blinding light.

It seemed like forever that he had worked here in the dreary Baby Salt Mines. He barely remembered the last day of his idyllic former life, though anything before that was a distant blur. That distant afternoon he had been lounging on the beach, enjoying the rhythmic lullaby of the waves washing back and forth along the shore.

He could still recall the strange man that had slunk out of nowhere, offering him all the delicious cereal he could eat, the man with the black cape and the hooded brown eyes. Innocently, he had followed him away, only to learn the hard way that this stranger was the one and only Don Jimmy, the Baron of the Baby Salt Mines.

Now his life was one long waking dream of salt, sun, and sorrow. How long had he been here? One, maybe two weeks? Or were they years? He had given up on ever returning to that hazy existence on the sea shore, the distant life that he was forgetting more and more each day.

At least Don Jimmy’s promise about the cereal had been true: every evening when the work was over, the baby miners were treated to all the cereal they could eat. Small comfort, considering the crushing workload that lay ahead the next day.

Po-pee sighed, and began to clean up for the evening. Suddenly, he heard an unfamiliar voice whisper behind him.

“Don’t move, Po-pee. Let the others go to dinner without you….I’m here to rescue you! Pretend that we are not talking.”

Po-pee kept his head down, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a tall stranger shrouded in a billowing white cloak. This was certainly not another baby! Nor did he think it was one of the harsh task masters of the mines; they always wore the black and red of the house of Don Jimmy. Whoever this ethereal stranger was, Po-pee had a feeling that he meant no harm.

To be continued.....