PANDEMICE
By Nina Fortmeyer
On December eleventh at quarter past two. A band of pandemice came to Tanoo. They peeked through the gates and saw beings so tall,
They knew that they would not be noticed at all.
Tanootians were large, they were busy and loud,
Their large busy loudness made them all proud.
So drawn by the parks and the flowers so pretty
The band hoisted their gear and entered the city.
After they slept for most of a day, The band was well rested, and ready to play.
The timbrels kept rhythm, the singers they sang,
The fiddler he fiddled, the bell ringers rang.
The keyboardist keyed, the trumpeter blew
It all went unnoticed by all of Tanoo.
Soon the Tanootians began to get sick, Their leader, he needed to do something quick,
He’d keep them all busy, he’d give them a task,
So he told each Tanootian to make their own mask.
They sewed, they glued, they sculpted and painted,
When they put on the masks, the band nearly fainted.
“How scary,” the lead singer whimpered and cried,
They packed up their instruments, set them aside,
Too terrified to make even a peep,
Huddled together, they went back to sleep.
But then a Tanootian who loved his own face,
Unmasked, and he wore a hat in its place. A hat so much fun, that half of Tanoo.
Threw off their masks, and they made hats too.
Wide hats, tall hats with gumballs and feathers,
When the pandemice woke, they sang out together.
“How fun, we love hats!” they cried one and all,
They feasted, they danced, they threw a big ball. The flute player played, the drummers they drummed
The gourd shakers shook, guitar players strummed
The bagpiper piped, the horn player blew
And soon the great sickness came back to Tanoo.
The hats blamed the maskers, the masks blamed the hatters,
Though none of them really knew what was the matter.
Friends against friends, neighbors picked sides While Tanootians grew sicker, some even died. With all of the hating and warring Tanootians
It fell to the children to think up solutions.
They sneaked out one night and stole all of the hats.
And glued them to cat masks, bird masks and bats.
Fedoras with clown faces, chef toques with sheep,
They gave them all back, then went off to sleep.
Dreaming that as a result of their labors
Tanootians would start being friends with their neighbors
Masks bearing caps got the maskers excited
While hats that had faces made hatters delighted
The hatters and maskers, they walked side by side
And showed off the goofy creations with pride.
The dragon/fedora, the monkey/beret
They danced and paraded ‘til late in the day
When the band saw the townsfolk having such fun,
They packed up to leave, their work here was done.
Tanoo was no longer a city of hate,
So they hoisted their gear and slipped under the gate.
Storms built in the east, there was smoke in the west,
Tanoo was about to be put to the test But all the Tanootians would weather the weather,
Because they had learned we’re all in this together.