The Legend and
Land Battle
A humorous tale about three adventurous wildlife friends and the enchanted mountain they live on.
BY CHARLENE TOWNSEND
One of the World’s Greatest Children’s Book Authors
PO Box 221974 Anchorage, Alaska 99522-1974
[email protected]—www.publicationconsultants.com
ISBN 978-1-59433-731-4
eBook ISBN 978-1-59433-732-1
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2017961880
Copyright 2017 Charlene Townsend
—First Edition—
Art by Randall D. Anderson (Notlef)
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in any form, or by any mechanical or electronic means including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, in whole or in part in any form, and in any case not without the written permission of the author and publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter One
nce upon a time there was a very special place not too far from where you live named Tokeca Forest. It was the home of many different woodland animals living together and sharing the land. Tokeca Forest was part of a mystical mountain where birds sang songs of joy while streams of sunlight danced thru the trees. A place where the winds gently tickled the earth as it whispered the secrets of the land. It was a kingdom where happiness and miracles were a part of everyday life. In fact, there were even legends about the forest and the enchanted mountain it was on. Mount Wakahe was named by the Indians and its very name meant ‘sacred mountain’. The legend said all animals shall speak the same language and live together causing no harm to one another. In fact, there were many legends on Mount Wakahe and this story is about one of them.
In Tokeca Forest there lived a bunny named Sonny, a squirrel named Merle, and a skunk named Hunk. These three woodland animals were born on the same early spring day and grew up spending most of their time together. Each one was unique in his own way; Merle was the explorer of their group in search of new places and undiscovered areas, Hunk was the inquisitive one always full of questions in need of answers, and Sonny was their look-out in charge of safety. He often pointed out the possible dangers to Merle before entering a new area. All in all, they made a really good team and even better friends.
Each day the boys spent their free time looking for new treasure and going on grand adventures. They loved exploring new areas of the mountain and visiting their neighbors. There weren’t too many animals on the mountain that didn’t know of the boys or their expeditions. After the boys got done with their learning classes and completed whatever chores their parents had for them, they would meet under the big oak tree not far from their dens. Sonny usually got there first just to make sure the area was secure and safe. Then Merle would arrive and Hunk a little while later. Doing chores always made Hunk hungry and so he required a snack before play time. As a matter of fact, there weren’t too many things that didn’t make Hunk hungry.
On this day, however Merle had arrived first and Hunk a while later. Sonny was late which was very unlike him. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but today Merle had some very exciting news and couldn’t wait to share it with them. They were just getting ready to go looking for him when Sonny showed up.
“Hey Sonny where have you been?” inquired Merle.
“I wasn’t anywhere.” Sonny denied in a nervous manner.
“Well you had to be somewhere.” Hunk stated. “Everyone is somewhere.”
“Oh yeah? I could ask you the same thing.” Sonny blurted. “Where were you guys?”
“We were here, waiting for you, but you were late and now you are here and acting very weird.” Hunk explained.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sonny asked while pawing at the ground, “Where do you think I’ve been?”
“I don’t know.” Hunk replied.
“Are you accusing me of something?” Sonny retorted.
“No.” Hunk assured him.
“What have you guys heard?” He inquired.
“Nothing.” They both replied.
“It’s not true you know.” Sonny announced as he started to fidget with a small stone he dug up.
“WHOOA, slow down,” Merle said, “we were just wondering where you were, you are usually always the first one here, and we weren’t accusing you of anything.”
“However,” Hunk added “what is it that you thought we might have heard that isn’t true?”
“Huh?…What?…Oh nothing. I just thought you might have heard some stuff I hadn’t.” Sonny offered, “That’s all.”
For a few minutes, they all just stood there staring at each other in a curious manner. Merle looked at Hunk and then back at Sonny. Hunk looked back and forth between the two others while Sonny looked everywhere else. Sonny looked everywhere but at the two of them. Finally, Hunk broke the silence.
“It’s a girl! Isn’t it?!” he exclaimed.
“Oh no, don’t start that again.” Merle said, “Every time one of us is a little quirky or different you say it’s because of a girl, and every time you are wrong. You said it was a girl when I had pinewood fever. You said it was a girl when Sonny was upset about losing his lucky charm. You said it was a girl when we were trying to surprise you for your birthday and you were wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It is not a girl.”
“Okay. Okay.” Hunk returned, “I got it, it’s not a girl…but it’s something.”
“No, it’s not.” argued Sonny.
“Yes, it is.” Merle and Hunk replied together.
“But if you don’t want to tell us,” Merle added, “you don’t have to. That’s what good buddies are for. We are here if you need us, but we won’t pry into something that is private. We respect how you feel.”
“Thanks.” Sonny responded.
“No problem.” Merle assured him.
“It’s just that it is kind of embarrassing.” Sonny explained.
“We understand.” Merle offered.
“And it’s really no big deal.” Sonny added.
“It’s okay.” Merle replied.
Hunk just stood there nodding his head with everything Merle was saying. He wanted to be as supportive and understanding as Merle was being. Merle was good at saying just the right thing at the right time and making people feel better. Hunk wanted to be like that but more than anything he wanted to know what Sonny was hiding. He couldn’t help it, he was curious by nature. If there were unanswered questions in his head, he felt the need to do whatever it took to find the answers.
“But if it was bothering you we would sure listen to you,” Hunk offered, “I wouldn’t want you to keep something bottled up inside and cause you bad dreams or anything.”
“I don’t know, if I did tell you would you promise not to tell another animal wild or tame?” Sonny asked.
“Of course, we wouldn’t tell.” Hunk responded raising his right paw.
“And absolutely no teasing me?” Sonny added.
“Of course not.” Merle reassured him. “We’re your buddies.”
“Okay, but you have to assure me you won’t freak out or go all buggy on me.” Sonny requested.
“No problem, you have our word.” Hunk responded impatiently.
“Okay, it’s a girl.” Sonny whispered.
“What?” Merle and Hunk chimed together.
They both thought they had heard Sonny correct, but really wanted to make sure. After all, this was defin
itely something a guy didn’t want to be mistaken about.
“It’s a girl,” he repeated “and it is big, really big.”
Hunk of course was going to tell Merle he had told him so, but Merle held up his paw and gave him the ‘don’t you dare’ look. They just couldn’t believe what their friend had told them. They had seen girls, and they certainly had talked about girls, and they had even played games with girls, but none of them had ever had ‘girl’ problems. They had teased girls, chased girls, and even spied on girls but no one had ever said, ‘It’s a girl’ in that way, at least not until now.
Poor Sonny, he looked like he just wanted to run away and hide. Merle and Hunk just stood there quietly waiting for their friend to tell them more. Hunk really wanted to ask lots and lots of questions, but Merle was still giving him the look. Hunk had seen that look before and knew what it meant. It meant, ‘don’t do it, bad idea’ and Merle was usually right about these sorts of things. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure how long he could keep from asking. He wanted to know really, really bad.
“Do you swear you won’t laugh?” Sonny finally asked in a quiet voice.
“Of course, we do.” Merle offered right away.
“I’ll try not to.” Hunk finally added. He had wanted to sound reassuring like Merle did, but felt anxious and knew he lacked self-control at times.
“Okay,” started Sonny, “I was on my way over here to meet you guys and seen Honey and some of the others playing. I stopped just for a second to watch from behind the big acorn tree. You know, just out of curiosity because they were all laughing so hard. That was all.”
Honey was a girl bunny that lived about thirty hops and a log roll down from Sonny’s home. They were the same age and their parents were all good friends and often hung out together. They all knew Honey quite well because she was in their learning classes that Crowl the owl taught. Honey was one of the smartest and often helped when someone was a having difficulty with a lesson.
“They were throwing the acorns to get each other out.” Sonny continued as he began talking faster and faster with every breath, “Then Honey was it and she ran out of acorns and came over to the tree where I was hiding, and I didn’t know where she was, so I stuck my head out to look. Then she came around the tree this way and I went that way and then it happened. I didn’t know it was going to happen so I couldn’t stop it! If I knew it was going to happen I would have definitely stopped it or went the other direction. If I knew it was going to happen I wouldn’t even have stopped. I wouldn’t have even gone that way.”
“What happened?” asked Merle slowly.
“You couldn’t stop what?” Hunk inquired.
By this time Sonny was panting to catch his breath. He knew he was blushing and not really making any sense, but he couldn’t help it. This was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him in his whole life. He just knew once he told someone his life was never going to be the same again. And at the same time, he knew if he didn’t tell someone he was going to explode.
So, after looking around to make sure no one else was within earshot he quietly whispered “We touched noses”.
For what seemed like a very long time Sonny’s friends just looked at him with a wide eyed, open mouth, shocked stare.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Merle finally replied, “You mean you tapped noses like a brother and a sister, right?”
Sunny shook his head very rapidly and started to blush again.
“You mean you two had full nose to nose contact like um…?” Merle asked.
Sunny nodded quickly as he turned even redder. “Yes,” he admitted, “I mean full nose to nose, eyes open, whisker twitching, tail twirling, leg thumping, ear flipping contact.”
“Wow,” Hunk exclaimed, “What was it like?”
Sonny had to think about that for a minute. He knew how it felt but wasn’t sure how to describe it. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to.
“It was kind of like having wilderness sickness but in a good way.” Sonny responded after a few moments.
“In a good way?” Hunk inquired, “I’ve had wilderness sickness twice and nothing about it was good.”
“Yeah, I’m with Hunk on that one.” added Merle.
“Okay,” Sonny said closing his eyes and trying to calm his inner bunny, “It felt like I had a fever all over like you have when you have wilderness sickness. My tummy was all fluttery and wimpy like I had eaten some bad clover. My head felt foggy and mushy like it gets down in the swamp. It felt like my fur was standing on end, my ears went limp, and my tail was spinning in circles. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t blink. I’m not even sure if I was still breathing.”
“Wow,” replied Merle, “that sounds horrible, I’m surprised you lived thru it.”
“Yeah, how do you feel now?” Hunk added holding up his paw, “How many claws do I have up?”
“Actually, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds,” Sonny assured them, “and I’m okay now, well I think so anyway.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Hunk stated as he felt Sonny’s forehead.
“How long did it last?” Merle asked, as Hunk continued to inspect Sonny’s reflexes.
“I’m not sure.” Sonny explained, “It felt like forever, I think we were frozen or stuck or something.”
“Stuck? That doesn’t make sense.” Hunk replied, “My parents rub noses like that all the time and they never get stuck.”
“Maybe it only happens the first time you do it.” Merle offered, “Either way it sounds creepy and scary to me. I’m not letting a girl get within three feet of me.”
“How did you finally get apart?” Wondered Hunk out loud.
“I’m not sure, I think it might have been the giggle.” Sonny explained.
“The giggle?” Hunk repeated.
“Yeah,” Sonny continued, “we were stuck, and I couldn’t move at all and then Honey giggled and we just sort of popped a part.”
“Well I think we need to file that in our brains under lifesaving information.” Hunk advised them. “That way if something happens and we end up stuck to a girl we can order her to giggle so we can get away.
The three friends agreed and then promised each other they would keep the whole story to themselves. This agreement made Sonny feel somewhat better but was still concerned about what Honey was thinking and feeling, but most importantly telling. He wondered what if she told anyone in their learning class, or her parents, or worse yet his parents. He knew what his mom and dad would say. His dad had already had ‘the talk’ with him. He could hear his father’s voice now. “Sonny, you should never rub noses with a girl unless you have strong feelings for her and you have intentions of caring for her for the rest of your life.”
“Oh no,” Sonny exclaimed, “you don’t think I have to take care of Honey for the rest of my life, do you?”
“Oh, I don’t think so, but to be honest I’m not really sure.” Merle responded thoughtfully.
“I hope not,” Hunk added, “that would really be a bad thing, you can’t even keep track of your lucky charm.”
“Maybe you should go talk to your dad.” advised Merle, “You know, just in case. That way you will know what to expect.”
“Huh uh, no way, no how!” Sonny yelled. “He will freak. Have you ever seen a bunny freak out? Well I’m telling you right now, it’s not a pretty sight. You see a bunny freak out and you won’t sleep for a week.”
“Maybe,” offered Hunk, “But maybe not, after all, the whole thing was just an accident, right?”
“Of course, it was,” Sonny responded defensively, “You don’t think I would rub noses with a girl on purpose do you? What kind of a guy do you think I am?”
“No, well I didn’t think so.” Hunk said, “I mean I just wondered why you were hiding while you were watching her in the first place, that’s all.
“I was walking by, heard all the laughter and commotion,” Sonny explained in an irritated tone, “and stopped to see what was going on. They wer
e all having such great fun I just stepped behind the tree to watch for a couple of minutes. That’s it, nothing else, and if anyone else says there was I will punch them in the nose.”
“Okay, okay Sonny,” Hunk said calmly “I believe you. Gees, I was just asking. There is no reason to threaten a guy’s nose or anything.”
“Well I still think you should talk to your dad about it.” Merle interrupted, “You always say you can talk to him about anything and this definitely seems like something.”
Sonny thought about what Merle was saying and he knew he was right, but he was still worried. What if his dad did freak out or worse yet, what if his parents told Honey’s parents and they all freaked out. That would be bad, really bad. Then again what if Honey told her dad or mom and then they told his. That would be worse. With these thoughts in mind Sonny realized that if anyone was going to tell his parents it was going to be him. He would tell his dad first though and then see how it went from there.
“You’re right Merle,” Sonny finally admitted, “I need to go talk to my dad.”
“Would you like us to come with you?” Merle offered.
“No,” replied Sonny, “I think this is one of those things that a guy needs to do on his own. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” said Merle and Hunk, “We will wait here for you.”
With that being said Sonny left Hunk and Merle and headed home. In his head, he played over and over what he was going to say to his dad and how he was going to say it. He wondered what his dad’s reaction was going to be and what his dad was going to say back to him. What if his dad said he was going to have to take care of Honey for the rest of her life? More importantly, how did one bunny take care of another bunny? He knew his dad said he took care of his mom but didn’t really know what he did. His mom kept their den nice and neat and his dad help take care of him and all his brothers and sisters, but how did his dad take care of his mom. He had never really thought about it before. His mom fed herself, groomed herself, got up herself, went to bed herself, and anything else he could think of. Maybe taking care of another bunny wasn’t that bad.
The Legend and Land Battle Page 1