Story: The Cell that Cried, "Pathogen"

Once there lived a little white blood cell. He was a happy cell when he was young, but as he grew older, he began to take on the responsibilities of being an adult white blood cell. He wanted to be taken seriously in the body, but no one would listen to him because he was still very young. So, he devised a plan to attract some attention to him.

Our protagonist, the young white blood cell. 

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"PATHOGEN!" he cried, loud enough for all the neighboring cells to hear him. "PATHOGEN!" he cried louder, so the cells in all the nearby organs could hear. Soon enough, the area around him flooded with white blood cells, ready to take on an intruder.

"Where is it at?" the white blood cells asked frantically. The adult white blood cells took their job very seriously. They began shooting histamines all about, attempting to take down the pathogen. Eventually, the adult white blood cells became frustrated. "Where is this pathogen you alerted us about?", they asked to the young white blood cell. "Oh, um... guess it was nothing after all!" he replied. Frustrated and annoyed, the adult white blood cells left the scene and went back to their original posts. 

The young white blood cell was elated. "WOW! DID YOU SEE THAT RESPONSE? The human must have had the worst allergies! I can't believe I did all that by myself!" he thought to himself. It wasn't long until he began to devise another plan.

"TUMOR! COME QUICK EVERYONE!" he shouted, so all the organs in the body could hear him. Immediately, the area was flushed with adult white blood cells. The white blood cells immediately went to work, interrogating all the neighboring cells about their replication cycles and making sure that everyone was in check. After a while, all the cells in the area had been questioned, but none of them were tumorous. They all surrounded the young white blood cell and scolded him. "This is a serious job!" they yelled. "How could you do such a thing? You put all our jobs at risk! You put the human at risk!" they said. The while blood cell sulked. "I just wanted to be taken seriously" he replied to them. The adult white blood cells swam off in a huff.

Neighboring white blood cells attacking the "tumor" that the white blood cell spoke about.

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The young white cell was defeated. "How could I have done all this?" he asked himself. "I could have really hurt someone! I could have even killed someone!" He moped around in his corner for the next few days, reflecting on his actions.

On the fourth day after the incident, a strange color flickered out of the corner of his eye. He spun around and there was a massive pathogen attacking a group of muscle cells! "HELP!" he cried out. "PATHOGEN! INTRUDER! HELP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, but to no avail. None of the adult white blood cells believed in his claims anymore. So, the young white blood cell took it upon himself to fight this pathogen. He used all his strength against this cell, but he was no match for the experienced infection, especially after the pathogen began to divide. The red blood cells in the area saw this gallant effort, and began signaling to the adult white blood cells. Soon, word had gotten around the body that there actually was a pathogen that needed to be taken out. In no time at all, the white blood cells arrived and defeated the pathogen.

The young white blood cell was deemed a hero after that. "Taking on a pathogen of that virulent by yourself is no easy feat!", they admitted. After that day, all the adult white blood cells took him seriously. The young white blood cell had certainly learned his lesson.

Our hero, the young white blood cell.

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Author's Note:

This story is based on "The Shepard's Boy" in from Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs. The original story is about a lonely boy that lied about seeing a wolf in his pasture multiple times, until the towns people no longer believed him. Then, when a real wolf did come to the pasture, the wolf ate all of the sheep. The lesson to this story is that no one believes a liar, even when they tell the truth. In my adaptation, the protagonist learns his lesson, and the adult white blood cells take him seriously.

Bibliography:

From "The Fables of Aesop" by Joseph Jacobs. From the story "The Shepard's Boy" (Source)

Emily