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A Tale of Two Seeds
by PoeTrader

"Hey! Shoo!" the annoyed Burger Prince employee waved his arms wildly at the Spiteful Crow that just stole a little girl's hamburger. The crafty crow flew up to the top of the Burger Prince's roof with its prize in its mouth, cackling heartily as it watched the employee's crazy dance. The little girl began to cry over the loss of her burger, prompting the employee to rush inside and bring her another, free of charge.

The Spiteful Crow nibbled at the stolen burger, taking its time while enjoying the sound of the little girl's wails.

"Caw cawww cawwww!"

Three burly crows approached from the east, their eyes fixated on the stolen burger. The Spiteful Crow cackled, grabbed the burger in its talons, and took off. As the employee emerged from the Burger Prince with a new hamburger, ketchup and pickles fell onto his head as the Spiteful Crow flew away. He looked up and shook his fist angrily at the crow. A little piece of onion fell in the employee's eye.

Although crafty, this particular Spiteful Crow had a short-term memory problem and it soon forgot that it was fleeing from a pack of birds with a burger in tow. It changed course and flew far away from the Burger Prince, over a long bridge, all the way to a foreboding desert. The sudden heat disoriented the crow, and it began to fly in strange patterns. Temporarily losing its senses, it crash-landed and sent the burger flying. The crow had no idea why it was in the desert. It shook the dust off itself and flew back towards the city.

When the burger landed, meat and toppings scattered everywhere in a confusing mess. The burger baked in the sun for the rest of the day, the ketchup and mustard merging with the sand and forming a sticky, putrid paste. As soon as night fell, a hungry wolf came sniffing around and gobbled up the remains of the decomposing burger, leaving nothing but crumbs and two sesame seeds behind.

There must have been a mixup at the bread factory, because one of the sesame seeds was black, which is something you never see on a hamburger bun. Maybe as a garnish on sushi or in a fancy ramen noodle bowl, but never on a wholesome, Eaglelandian hamburger bun.

The odd pair of sesame seeds, one black and one white, were together in a massive sea of sand. Without the stink of the hamburger hanging over them, no other animals came to investigate the area. They remained undisturbed for many months.

On one particularly hot day, the air pressure suddenly dropped and the wind picked up. A small dust devil formed near the edge of the desert and slowly grew into a big twister. The two sesame seeds were caught in the fray along with a few stray antoids and countless grains of sand.

The twister traveled across the desert, disturbing everything in its path. The little white sesame seed was flung out of the twister somewhere in the middle of the desert, while the black sesame seed remained trapped inside. The chaos continued until a storm finally blew in and calmed the winds with a quick-moving torrential downpour. The black sesame seed was discarded somewhere near the desert shore, far from the white sesame seed.

Weeks passed, and the sesame seeds lived in solitude on opposite sides of the sweltering desert. They were only about 500 meters away from each other, but in the perspective of two tiny specks, that might as well have been 500 light years. A storm would kick up every now and then, but not one as powerful as the one that had separated the seeds. Only a miracle could reunite them now.

* * *

On one fateful day, a group of three teenagers braved the harsh desert heat in an attempt to circumvent a roadblock to the south. There was a boy in a red baseball cap, a girl with a big red bow tied in her blonde hair, and a quiet blond boy wearing glasses. The red-capped boy appeared to be the leader of the group, and he spotted the black sesame seed and bent down to get a closer look. He stared at the seed for a long while, then stood up in silence and continued walking with his friends.

The red-capped boy lead his group across the desert, walking willy-nilly as if searching for something. He stopped in the middle of the desert and looked down. The white sesame seed glinted in the sunlight, and the boy bent down and stared at it, saying nothing. He stood up and walked back to the first seed, his friends not questioning his strange behavior - they seemed to understand that what he was doing was important.

After the boy spent some more time staring at the black sesame seed, he finally lead his group out of the desert.

A shiny metal robot had been watching the three teenagers walk back and forth across the desert as they visited the two sesame seeds. The robot was built in the shape of a plump blond boy, one who would be instantly recognizable in a little town called Onett. It was painted to look as if it was wearing a white shirt, black shorts and suspenders, and a red bowtie. Someone had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to make this robot look as human as possible, but its rigid movements and shiny finish instantly gave it away.

The humanoid robot waited until the three teenagers left the desert for good, then stealthily made its way to the spot where the red-capped boy had spent an unusual amount of time simply staring at the sand. It scanned the area and found the tiny black sesame seed. It then quickly made its way to the other spot where the teenagers had stopped and saw the white sesame seed laying in the sand. The robot stood up straight and beeped a series of tones. It then stood still for a very long time.

Just as the sun began to set, the humanoid robot let out a long, dull tone. It scooped up the white sesame seed, then crossed the desert and picked up the black seseame seed. One blink later, and the robot had disappeared.

* * *

In a vast, gilded hallway, a collection of seemingly unrelated items were on display. They each had a little information card in front, as if they were part of the world's strangest museum. The items stood facing a small river that held a little boat, almost like an amusement park ride. On display were an assorment of telephones, a collection of automobiles, a few very strange vehicles that seemed out of this world, and some iron statues in the shape of writing utensils. At the very end of the line sat the black and white sesame seeds, reunited at least.

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