Staunk the Empty Barrel

Barrels had once been a proud group. Their lot in life was to be filled with things, and how fulfilling it was. But times had changed. The age of the box had come, and few barrels roamed, even fewer with pride.

Staunk laid in the barn of an elderly couple in Arkansas. She laid on the second floor, where she knew full well that nothing would ever be touched again. It wouldn’t have been so bad had Staunk not been entirely empty. Not a single thing filled poor Staunk.

But she held hope. Despite the very dismal circumstances, Staunk dreamed of one day being filled, and she dreamed it hard. Every night before she slept, she peered out of the barn’s skylight and would sing to herself:

Amid all the stars that brighten the night
That fill up the sky with their brilliant light
I’d feel very honored and feel very thrilled
To wake up tomorrow and feel as fulfilled.

Amid one of her nightly recitals of this lullaby, Staunk heard a voice.

“You want the secret?”

Staunk was surprised that she was not more surprised to hear a strange voice, and reacted casually.

“Okay.”

Before Staunk, there appeared a termite. But not just any termite. An extrremely obese termite. In fact, Anthony just might have been the most obese termite in the world.

“Ya just gotta believe,” Anthony heaved in a vaguely Italian accent as he approached a nearby wooden ladel. He munched away at it furiously, and it was gone within seconds. Staunk was impressed by this, and considerably disturbed.

“You sure eat a lot, and quickly,” Staunk noted.

“Eh, it runs in the family,” Anthony croaked as he cleaned off an old wooden drawer.

“What do you mean believe?” Staunk inquired.
“I mean believe. You just have to believe that you’re full, and you’ll be full. It’s totally easy. I mean, what’s wrong with you? Why are you feeling so empty?”

Staunk was somewhat confused as she watched Anthony gourge himself with the abandoned wooden trinkets around her.

“You mean that if I want to be filled, all I have to do is hold hope and it will happen?”

“Yeah, stupid,” sputtered Anthony while stuffing his mouth with the broken-off rung of a ladder. “It’s your own fault you aren’t happy.”

Staunk grew consumed with a rage.

“You’re wrong,” Staunk boomed. “No day has passed where I have not believed my hardest, and no good has come. It must be easy for you to believe what you say, seeing how easy it is for you to fill yourself.”

Anthony seemed unphased by this, gradually gnawing away. Staunk felt a very bizarre sensation on her bottom. She peered over to see Anthony was gnawing away at her.

“You’re eating me!” Staunk cried.
“Yeah, I guess,” Anthony spat, nearly a fourth of the way finished with his new meal. “See how easy it is? Man, you just have to believe.”

Staunk grew consumed with a sadness. There were not many barrels, and there would soon be one barrel less. Staunk looked through the barn’s skylight to the sky, the stars dancing, the moon covered by a sliver of shadow.

“Amid all the stars that brighten the night
That fill up the sky with their brilliant light
I’d feel very honored and feel very thrilled
To wake up tomorrow and feel as fulfilled.”