Having joined a travelling band, Jolly Tippler was drumming at a carnival in the Town Square. The square was packed with beautiful women dancing to the beat of the drums and other musical instruments. Seeing the light from the huge fire gleaming on the array of smooth dark skin in front of him, Jolly sorely wished he was sandwiched between any two of those beautiful dancers instead of sitting with a bunch of sweaty musicians.
As the sun began to set, Jolly caught sight of a lone figure standing off in the shade of a tree. It was a handsome young man who was watching the spectacle quietly from a distance. While he observed the man, Jolly wondered why he wasn’t joining in on the fun. As if to read his mind, one of the dancers accosted the young man and engaged in a brief conversation with him. Jolly watched on while the lady tried to convince the man to join her, but he was so shy that he couldn’t even look her in the eye. Dialogue proving too hard of a task for the young lady, she started dancing provocatively — rocking her body and swinging her hips. This seemed to persuade the young man who swiftly followed her into the crowd and joined in on the festivities.
Jolly sighed in despair as his hands slammed on to the taut animal skin. He envied the young man who, joining in on the fun, seemed to forget his initial shyness; the more he danced, the more he loosened up. Loving this change in attitude, the girls started competing to dance with him.
As the last of the sun’s rays disappeared beyond the horizon, Jolly noticed something quite odd with the young man’s feet. He blinked furiously to clear his eyes, wondering if the heat and smoke from the fire were playing tricks on him. Those couldn’t possibly be hooves in place of the young man’s feet! A cold sweat trickled down Jolly’s forehead as his hands missed a beat. The band leader gave him a reprimanding look, silently chastising him for his misstep.
Trying his best to concentrate on the music, Jolly slammed even harder on to the drums; but to his eyes, the young man still had hooves in place of feet. He pulled his gaze away from the man’s feet to his face. It was still a handsome face but there was something strange going on with the young man’s eyes; they reflected so much of the firelight that they seemed to be flaming red. Jolly couldn’t believe what he was seeing. As a chill ran down his spine, he convinced himself that it was a mere trick of the light. Pulling his eyes away from the crowd, he concentrated even more on the drums.
Loud cheers rose up from the crowd as several of the dancers formed a conga line. Jolly lifted his gaze and smiled to himself, but his smile froze when the young man’s hands — which were clasped around a female dancer’s waist — started transforming to paws right before his eyes. Tearing his eyes away from the crowd, Jolly looked at each of his fellow band members to determine if any of them could see what he was seeing. But they were all concentrating on their musical instruments with not a care in the world.
Lost in thought, Jolly tried to make sense of what he was seeing. He was jolted out of his reverie by sharp screams coming from the crowd. When Jolly lifted his gaze, he observed a beastly figure in the centre of the square consuming several of the young ladies who, only moments ago, had been dancing and grinding against it. It was none other than the handsome young man!
There was pandemonium everywhere. Many of the dancers were making a run for it while others were trying desperately to save their friends from the beast’s grip. Several members of the travelling band, including the leader, also started screaming and making a run for it. Jolly, convinced now that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him, also ran along, kicking his drum over in the process and tripping over other musical instruments which were strewn on the ground. As Jolly kept running, he looked back at the almost deserted square and saw the sated beast collapsing to the ground and transforming itself back into the young man’s body.
Other adventures of Jolly can be found on my blog: mohmanyang.com
