“The Mechanical Monster”
I could not escape the ominous sickening sound of the fierce battle echoing from the ravaged valley below. From the safety of the mountaintop, I watched as the machinery of war slowly crept forward.
In the distance, there was an explosion. I turned, watched giant fingers of fire escape from a burning building. The flames raced skyward, blotting out the sun. After the explosion and the curling black smoke had cleared, a ghostly figure, a lone soldier, staggered from the burning building. Leaving charred flesh and the carnage of war behind, the soldier inched himself forward, slowly escaping to a nearby field.
I watched mechanical iron monsters, with teeth of steel, like slithering snakes, slither into the valley. They ravished the countryside, destroying the landscape, annihilating cattle and men. I watched these mechanical monsters slowly moved forward.
Those monsters of iron and steel, I watched, charged across muddy fields, fording mighty rivers. I watched as they rapidly approached another village. Ruthlessly each monster crept onward, each one intent on eliminating a human life, and a way of life.
The lonely soldier, afraid and confused, finally escaped the smoke and flames. He staggered into a nearby muddy field where he knelt down upon the soggy ground. On his knees, he looked to the Heavens, then shouted out:
“Why! OH, WHY!”
He beat violently upon his chest.
“You Bastard. You filthy bastard! How could you let this happen? Why did you desert us in our hour of need? Have we not faithfully served you? Have we not given you our all? How could you do this to us?
From the smoldering burning buildings, another mechanical monster suddenly appeared. It crossed the muddy field and slowly consumed the kneeling soldier. Indifferently gorging itself on more burning buildings, devouring more soldiers and cattle, the slithering monster with teeth of steel continued its march onward, toward another unsuspecting village.
I watched the monster from the mountaintop. I watched it until I was sick. I watched until the sunset in the west; then I fell asleep. I never woke up.
Navigate To Other Tosh Articles . . .
- Page 1: Growing Up Fast: Two Events I Witnessed
- Page 2: The Cubans and an Old Power Plant (1958)
- Page 3: A Cold War Incident
- Page 4: “A Mechanical Monster”
- Page 5: The Day Before that Dreadful Day
- Page 6: The Lady Saboteur
- Page 7: The Gringo and the Worms
- Page 8: The Death of a Reluctant Skydiver
- Page 9: A Bogey Over the Florida Straits
- Page 10: I’m Too Young to be Shot
- Page 11: The Last of the Mohicans
- Page 12: Two Good Friends: A War Story
To Go to Tosh’s Novel Page “Thinking That is Out of This World” Click HERE
LBJ: Master of Deceit 