Commander in Chief of the World
by
Leighroy Marsh
I am Commander-in-Chief-of-the-world
and I
haven’t got time to tidy my room,
Alien
invaders need to be stopped,
Only I can save us from doom.
If
you give me five minutes,
I’ll
stop the attack, and send them all back into space
For I am Commander
in Chief of the World,
and
everything else has to wait!
“Tidy
your room, and take out the trash
I’ve
asked you enough times already today”
“Mum
– wait till I’ve won,
I’ll
be quick as a flash…it’s important to finish my play”
As he
gripped the controls on his smart games console,
the
spaceship explodes with a flash and a hiss
He
was winning the war, with an all time high score.
Nobody
nowhere was better than this.
Then
the TV. went blank and the world
wasn’t saved – somebody, somewhere,
had
turned off the power.
“You need some fresh air, it’s a beautiful day
Go
out and I don’t want you back for an hour”
and
so he went out, without lasers or guns,
no
spaceship to take him around
The Commander in chief – had to wait for a bus
while
his mother drove off into town.
he
stood at the stop at the top of his road,
and
played with the bus fare he held in his hand.
He was joined by a wizened old man with a bag
That
was tied with a thick rubber band.
Politely, The
Commander-in-Chief of the World, said “Hello”,
and
the wizened old man nodded back.
He
ask with a laugh,
“Do
you know what I have?”
through
a smile that was toothless and crooked and black.
Inside
this bag,
Is a
game that I’ve made, as he pierced the Commander in Chief with a stare
It’s
a game like no other before - that you’ve played,
So
real and intense, you could swear that you’re there.
He
opened the bag for the boy to look in,
and
his eyes opened up as he stared deep inside
A
shimmering, shiny ,strange light glowed within,
pulsating
and spinning like something alive.
“It's hard to find people these days “said the wizened
old man
“who
will try out this game that I’ve made”
They’re
too busy reading or going for walks,
helping
their parents or playing some sports
drawing,
or listing to music of sorts nobody wants to play games.
he
reached in his bag and then pulled out a disc,
that
shimmered and glimmered in the afternoon sun
So…said
the wizened old man to the boy…do you like to play games?,
is it
your kind of fun?
have
you got the verve, and the guile and the nerve
to
keep playing this marvellous game till you’ve won?
The
Commander-in-Chief of the World was transfixed,
the
hypnotic light sent him deep in a
trance
What
would it cost, to get hold of this disc
he
couldn’t pass up on this chance.
He
stretched out a hand and took hold of the disc,
then
he thanked the wizened old man with a smile.
He
bid him good day and returned to his home,
as
the wizened old man stood and watched for a while.
Alone in the house,
he looked at the disc,
there was something mysterious, something quite strange
he
was sure he heard voices cry out from within,
but
couldn’t work out what the voices were saying.
With
great expectation he loaded the game,
and gripped the controls in the palm of
his hand,
he
patiently watched as the credits rolled by,
strange
looking places from faraway lands.
he
gripped the controls on his smart games console,
the spaceship explodes with a flash and a hiss
HE was winning the war, with an all time high score.
Nobody,
nowhere was better than this.
Slowly
he blasted away all his foes,
while
his own battle cruiser escaped without harm
His score mounted up and he gained extra lives
before
suddenly, something caused him great alarm.
The
mother ship soon moved towards him at pace,
larger
than any spacecraft that he’d seen.
And sat on the bridge, was the familiar face
of the
Wizened
old man who looked evil and mean!
from
out of the TV his voice could be heard,
do
you like to play games?
Is
this your kind of fun?
Do
you have the verve and the guile and the nerve –
this
game is for real,
you
can play till you’ve won?
He
threw the controls of his smart games controls
and
ran to window to call out for help
But
all he could see was the sun, the stars,
and
the trailing debris of an asteroid belt.
As
each missile fired and each missile hit,
the The Commander-in-Chief-of-the-World felt the shake.
plaster
and roof tiles fell to the floor.
and
the boy came to realize his fatal mistake.
he
fired at the mother ship - without any joy,
the
force fields protected, deflected his guns
He
looked at his house that was almost destroyed,
he
wanted to stop, – this game wasn’t fun.
The
T.V exploded, the ceiling caved in,
Nothing could save the Commander-in-Chief
Collapsing
around him and trapped deep within,
before
lost to the bricks and the rubble beneath.
A few minutes later, when the dust had
all cleared,
just
a pile of old bricks where the commander once stood.
Up strode the wizened old man with a bag
and poked at the bricks with a piece of old wood.
Quite
soon the wizened old man heard a cry –
and
scooped up the boy who had taken the risk
Without
much ado he placed him in the bag –
suspended
in time and trapped on the disc
So
what of the boy – the Commander-in-Chief?
did
his mother not look,
why
wasn’t he missed?
No
tears were shed,
there
wasn’t much grief – the boy wasn’t dead,
he
just didn’t exist….
