“See? Now we are free to explore and walk around. When we want to come back here, all we have to do is to look for the bright light from the blue rocks. We just have to make sure we’re always in line of sight of the rocks!” Crystal said proudly.
“Wow, that’s a fantastic idea. I sure am glad that you came along, Crystal.”
Crystal could feel herself blushing and turned away from Louis because she felt embarrassed by his kind words. “I’m glad I came along too,” she said shyly. She changed the subject and said, “What are we going to call this place?”
“What do you mean by that?” Louis asked.
“Well, in history books, explorers always name a new place they discover. Aren’t we explorers and isn’t this a new place?” she said logically.
“I guess you’re right. I just never thought of us as explorers. I don’t even know how we got here and where ‘here’ is. Can we still name it even if we are lost?”
“Sure we can. Don’t you remember those stories we heard in class about explorers? A lot of them were lost but they named the places anyway.”
“Ha, I guess you’re right.”
“Hmmmm. I think I’ve got an idea. Who were the first ones to come through the trash can?” Louis asked Crystal.
“Us, of course!” she said.
“No. The very first ones to visit here were my fish, the neon tetras. I think we should name this place after all those brave little fish!”
Crystal started to laugh and smile.
“That’s a wonderful idea, Louis. Bravo!” she clapped her hands.
“Thank you, thank you. You’re all so very kind,” Louis bowed and pretended he was receiving applause from a very large audience.
Louis cleared his throat and announced in a very serious and official voice, “Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Crystal Overstreet, myself — Louis Lee, and my five brave fish, I officially declare and proclaim this land we have discovered be given a new name. From this day on, this place shall be called the land of Tetra!”
Crystal and Louis clapped their hands together and yelled, “Three cheers for the land of Tetra! Go Tetra! Go Tetra! Go Tetra!”
#
They explored the strange new land with vigor, taking care to look behind them every so often to make sure they could see the glowing pile of rocks.
All the excitement of exploring and walking made both of them very, very hungry. They hadn’t eaten since lunchtime which, to them, seemed like eons ago.
“Hey, my wristwatch stopped. What time do you think it is, Louis?”
“I haven’t a clue, but it must be close to dinner time because my stomach is making those funny noises. We can look around for a little while longer before we head on back.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “But I sure am hungry. I wish we could find some food around here.”
They traveled for a little while longer and saw an animal struggling in the middle of tall scrubs. It was the first animal they had seen since arriving in Tetra.
They cautiously approached it and realized the creature was caught in thick, yellow and pink bushes.
“Moo!” it cried.
“It’s a cow but not like the ones I’m used to seeing,” Louis said.
“You’re right about that one. She’s all red! It looks like this poor cow fell into these bushes and can’t get out. Let’s try to free her,” Crystal suggested.
“Okay. She sure is a very nice looking cow. I hope she doesn’t get scared by us.”
The bushes were very tall and dense. The cow struggled with all its might but couldn’t break free.
Louis and Crystal discovered what the problem was as they examined the trapped animal more closely. It was the strangest sight they had seen so far, and was quite unbelievable. The bushes had hands at the ends of its branches. The cow couldn’t escape because all the hands were holding on it and wouldn’t let go.
“This is the oddest place that I’ve ever been to. I don’t remember them teaching us about places like this in school. Do you remember anything like this, Crystal?”
“If they ever taught this in class, I would have definitely remembered! I never heard about anywhere like this from my teachers. Anyway, how are we going to help the cow escape all those hands?”
Louis scratched his head and started to think. “Let’s see. What can we do? What could we do? What should we do?”
He glanced around and noticed a pretty blue tree. The tree was beautiful with long, straight branches swaying slowly in the breeze.
An idea came to him. “I think I’ve got it!”
He went to the blue tree, reached up and broke off a couple of very long branches.
“Now what are we going to do?” she asked.
“Do what I do.”
With the sharp end of the branch, Louis poked at the hands. Crystal did likewise and jabbed each one of them. The hands were getting so irritated by the stabbing; they started to retreat back into the dense shrubbery. As more and more of the hands released their grip, the cow was able to break free.
The red cow walked away from the bushes and said, “Thank you very much!”
“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Crystal said in shock.
“I said, thank you very much,” the cow repeated.
“I don’t believe it. A talking cow!” Crystal said.
“And what is so surprising about a talking cow?” it replied.
“There are no talking cows where we come from. As a matter of fact, none of the animals can talk, except maybe parrots. Everything about this place is so different from where we come from,” said Louis.
“Where do you reside?” asked the cow.
“Both of us come from a small town called Marystown.”
“I have never heard of such a place. You must be from a village located very far away.”
As the three of them chatted, Crystal’s stomach made a loud growling noise.
“Excuse me!” she said embarrassed. “We haven’t eaten since lunchtime today.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were hungry. Would the two of you like some milk? I would be happy to give you some. It is the least that I can do to repay you for your kindness to me.”
“If it isn’t too much trouble for you that would be just great!” she said.
But the two of them didn’t know how to milk a cow. Before they could say anything, the cow walked over to a patch of large white flowers with little triangle designs. They looked like schoolyard bells turned upside down. She stood over one of the large flowers and squirted milk into it until it was full. She filled a second one the same way.
“Wow, a self-milking cow!” Crystal laughed with glee.
“Please help yourselves,” the cow invited.
“I’ve never had strawberry-colored milk before,” remarked Crystal.
“Why is that so surprising to you? We have a vast variety of differently colored cows here. For instance, green cows give green milk. Pink cows give pink milk. Blue cows give blue milk. Purple cows give purple milk and. . .”
“I think that we get the idea,” Crystal said.
Louis and Crystal carefully broke the flowers full of milk off the stems and took big, hungry gulps.
“Amazing! Totally amazing! The milk does taste a little like strawberries!” said Crystal.
“Yes, of course! Strawberry milk from a strawberry red cow!” he giggled
The milk tasted so good, they asked the cow for extra servings until they couldn’t drink one more drop.
“Ah. That was the best milk that I have ever had,” said Louis.
“Thank you,” said the cow. “I always make my best milk when it is late in the afternoon.”
“That reminds me,” Louis remembered. “We have to leave now. I don’t want our parents to worry about us.”
“Goodbye, red cow. Thank you for the great milk,” Crystal said with appreciation.
They headed back to the blue stone beacon. They agreed that they were very lucky to find such a wonderful place.
>
But they had many questions about Tetra. How was it possible to come here through a garbage can? Was this place located on Earth or someplace else? Perhaps they were dreaming this all up? Whatever the case, their main concern was to return home safely.
When they arrived at the glowing pile of rocks, something was different. The rocks looked the same. The hole was still there, but the rope was gone! With the rope missing, there was no way to climb back up and return home! The situation put them in a state of panic. What they were most afraid of had happened. Doubts and fearsome thoughts traveled through their minds with ferocious speed.
Crystal started to cry. “What are we going to do now?”
Louis thought about his typical life, back in his typical school, in the typical city where he lived in until now; he would give anything to go back to such a normal existence. As strange as it sounded, things back in Marystown didn’t appear as bad to him anymore.
“Sometimes, you don’t really miss things until you don’t have them any longer,” he said himself. “Crystal, we need to be brave. Somehow, we’ll make it back home. Somehow, there will be a way.”
Louis tried to sound optimistic but deep inside, he felt like crying too, but he couldn’t because it would make Crystal feel even worse than she already did.
Not very far away, hiding behind a tree, was a purple and orange striped animal that resembled a zebra. He heard everything Crystal and Louis said and felt very ashamed. There was a very good reason why he felt guilty because, for him, ropes were his absolutely favorite food.
CHAPTER 5
A UNIQUE UTOPIA
The zebra-like creature didn’t know what to do. Should he confess and tell Louis and Crystal that he was the one responsible for eating the rope? What would happen if they started to cry again? He didn’t think he could stand that. Maybe they wouldn’t cry, but then again, it might get worse. What if they became angry at him? Would they yell and scream and throw rocks?
“What should I do? What should I do? What should I do?” he kept repeating over and over. He said it so many times that Louis and Crystal heard him from behind the tree.
“Hey! Who’s there?” Louis yelled.
“What should I do? What should I do?”
Crystal and Louis walked over to where the animal was hiding.
“Hello!” Crystal said enthusiastically.
The striped animal jumped in surprise and fell unceremoniously to the ground.
“Oh my! Are you all right? Are you hurt?” asked Crystal.
The creature got to his feet and blushed. “I’m fine, thank you. You frightened me when you said ‘hello’.”
“Why where you hiding behind that tree, zebra?” she inquired.
“Why do you call me ‘zebra’?”
“Isn’t that what you are? Except for the different colored stripes you have, you look just like a zebra.”
“I haven’t a clue what a ‘zebra’ is.”
“Then what exactly are you?”
“I am a Zeeboo and I know what happened to your rope,” he said with obvious discomfort.
“Great!” shouted Louis. “Now we can go back home! Where’s the rope?”
“Well, you see, I was walking by and I noticed these bright rocks. I saw a rope dangling from that floating hole over there. I was hungry, I didn’t see anyone near, and so I pulled on the rope until it came loose. Ropes happen to be my favorite food, so I ate it.”
“You ate the rope!” Louis shouted.
“I ate the rope,” the Zeeboo sadly said.
“He ate the rope!” Crystal said in shock.
“There is nothing to be concerned about. I can show you where you can find more rope,” the Zeeboo offered.
“No, that won’t help us at all. That rope was important to us because it was anchored to a handle. We were going to climb back up through the opening, leave this place, and return home. But now we can’t because you ate it!” Louis said in frustration.
Now it was the Zeeboo’s turn to cry, and cry he most certainly did. Blue tears cascaded in torrents from large blue eyes.
This was getting ridiculous. With so much crying going on, it was difficult to get anything constructive done.
“Honk! Honk! Honk!” the Zeeboo cried out in despair.
Louis and Crystal found the noise comical and almost laughed out loud.
“He sounds just like a car horn,” Louis commented.
Crystal walked over to the distressed animal and started to rub his nose and ears to help him feel better. The Zeeboo started to calm down and, before long, he stopped sobbing. They were quite relieved because his honking was beginning to give them headaches.
“I’m sorry I ate your rope. I didn’t mean any harm by it. I was just so hungry and ropes are irresistible to me!”
“I suppose we can’t really blame you. We were quite hungry ourselves not too long ago,” admitted Crystal.
“Well, there’s nothing that we can do about it now. What is done is done,” Louis said stoically.
“Not all is lost. I may be able to get someone to help us. The fabulous Mr. Bixbee can do anything! If anyone can help, it would be him.”
“Who is Mr. Bixbee?” Louis asked.
“Mr. Bixbee is the overseer of this particular region. He arrived in our area quite some years ago. He is the smartest creature I know!”
“Okay, let’s go see him right away. If he can figure out a way to get us back home, let’s not waste any time,” Crystal said.
The unusually colored Zeeboo led the way. The sights and sounds of Tetra were overwhelming for Louis and Crystal. With practically every step they took, Tetra became more wonderful and mysterious.
“I just love the animals here,” Crystal said excitedly. “What kind of birds are those — the ones with the very shiny wings way above us?”
“They are called Bonky birds. Their bright wings help them to stay together in a group. Bonky birds don’t have very good eyesight, so their wings help them to see each other when they fly together,” explained the Zeeboo.
“Amazing,” she said.
As they were watching the colorful birds fly high overhead, one of them started to drop from the sky.
“Look! That one seems to be in trouble. It’s falling really fast. If that bird hits the ground, it might die,” Crystal said. She had a great love for animals and had always found it difficult to watch any animals in distress or harm. “I’m going to try to catch it before it crashes to the ground,” she said.
“But how are you going to. . .” Louis started to say.
Crystal cut him off and ran to rescue the Bonky bird.
“Wait!” said the Zeeboo. “Get on my back. I can run much faster than you can!”
“Okay. Let’s go!” she said. She jumped on and the Zeeboo ran faster and faster, constantly accelerating. Just how fast can this animal go? she wondered to herself.
It was clear that this was no ordinary animal. The Zeeboo was going so fast that everything around Crystal flashed by in a blur. Another unexpected surprise came when she saw wings sprouting out of the Zeeboo’s sides.
“What?” she yelled over the wind. “You can fly too?”
“Why of course. Didn’t you know that all Zeeboos fly?”
“Not where I come from!” Crystal laughed.
Two beautiful golden wings fully extended themselves and flapped in powerful strokes. It was an amazing sight but, in Tetra, it seemed that everything was amazing to her.
The Zeeboo had the bird clearly in view. Crystal and the Zeeboo were so high in the air that Louis looked like a small speck on the ground.
“When I fly underneath the bird, you catch him, okay?” the Zeebo suggested.
“Okay.” The winds were gusting strongly. Crystal hung on to his mane as tightly as she could to keep from being blown off.
The higher they went, the colder it became. Their altitude was so great that Crystal could almost touch the clouds around her. The Zeeboo made a sudden turn to the right and
flew directly underneath the plummeting bird. Crystal held out her hands, leaned way over, and snatched the bird from certain death. But she lost her balance and slipped off the back of the Zeeboo. She descended quickly toward the ground.
“Help! I’m falling!” she screamed.
The Zeeboo dived and caught up with Crystal.
“Hi! Need some help?” the Zeeboo asked.
“It’s no time to make jokes! I’m falling! Help!”
The Zeeboo gracefully flew under her. She landed on his back with a thud.
“Wow! That was a close call! I thought the bird and me were going to crash for sure.”
The amazing Zeeboo circled back and glided gracefully to the ground.
“Can we take Louis on a ride too? He’s afraid of heights but I think he’ll go if I insist.”
Louis ran to them and shouted, “Crystal! Are you all right? I saw you fall and . . .and. . .” but he couldn’t finish.
“Were you worried about me?” asked Crystal.
“Sure I was. I thought if you crashed into the ground. . .”
“But I’m okay, Louis. I really am. Zeeboo saved my life!”
“Thank you, Zeeboo. I don’t know what I would have done if Crystal was hurt in any way. She’s my best friend, you know.”
Crystal was surprised by Louis’s words. She had never heard Louis say this out loud to anyone else, besides her.
“Lets all take a ride into the sky. I’ll give you a tour of Tetra!” said the Zeeboo cheerfully.
“Wait, did you call this place Tetra?” Louis asked in astonishment.
“Why, yes. Of course I called this place Tetra. It is what this place is called.”
“What a very odd coincidence. That’s what I named this place when we arrived. I had absolutely no idea that it already was named Tetra.”
“Well, I don’t know about names, but I do know how to fly. Let’s all go for a ride!”
“Well, I don’t know. . .” Louis said hesitantly.
“Come on. It will be fun. You won’t believe how beautiful it is up there. I promise you’ll be safe and sound,” assured Crystal.
“Well, I guess it would be kind of exciting to do. I don’t like heights, but as long as you are with me too. . .”
Louis in the Land of Tetra Page 4