Mossflower

Animal Adventures Chapters 1-3

Characters:

• A squirrel family, named Ivey, Allison, and Lauren.
• A family of mice, named Aaron, Jenna, and Adam. (Adam was a baby).
• A dormouse boy, J.L.
• A hare family, whose names were Claire, Caitlin, and Justin.
• A hamster family, Eliza, Emmy, and Ellinor. (Ellinor was a baby).
• A mole family, Evans, Audra and Hannah Grace. (Hannah Grace was a baby).
• A gerbil family, Cameron and Reagan.
• A badger family, Nick and Jessica.
• Another dormouse boy, Joel.
• A hedgehog family, Samuel, Maddie, Chloe and Brennan. (Brennan was a baby.)
• An otter family, Garret and Steven.

(There will be an assortment of other animals for some chapters.)

Chapter 1: The Ground-Breaking

THE SUN smiled down on a large field bordered with trees where the church had gathered. Almost all of the children had shovels. Ivey took one and, after figuring out what she was supposed to do, jammed it into the ground and jumped on it. Both footpaws came down hard and she sat on the end to push the shovel up. Allie, watching, giggled. “I think you jammed it down too—yipe!” The shovel had suddenly sprung up, leaving a hole and a rather surprised Ivey, who had tumbled off the end of the shovel. Allie collapsed laughing. Indignantly Ivey dragged the shovel over to where everybody else was digging. She settled herself between Jessica the badger and Caitlin the hare. Jessica looked up. “Hi, Ivey. Oh, look, over in the trees!” Ivey looked and started laughing along with her.

The Three Gladiators, Aaron the mouse, Justin the hare and Evans the mole were chasing their archenemy Nick the badger, armed with two toy guns of Aaron’s. Justin had a stick for a sword. Nick led them on an obstacle course through the trees and then climbed a hard one. Aaron, who seemed to be the leader this time, had the other two help him form a ring around the tree, waving their weapons and yelling. Nick merely threw down some twigs on them. The Three Gladiators got bored and retreated to a big pile of dirt and rocks they called "their fortress". They yelled something inaudible. Then a hamster called Brother Parker yelled, “Come here, kids.” All the children ran over to him, dragging shovels. Nick climbed out of the tree and grabbed a stray shovel. Unknown to anyone, Aaron, Evans and Justin’s shovels had been stowed on a ledge of the dirt pile, so Aaron threw his down and jumped down after it. Justin repeated the process and, after thinking it over, so did Evans. Slightly smaller then the others, he landed on all fours over his shovel. They ran over to where Brother Parker was telling the kids what to do. He wanted them to push dirt back into a trench where a dirt fence was. Ivey dropped her shovel and headed for a dropped rake. It worked a lot better. As they were finishing, a mole named Sister Andrea called, “Lunch time!” As they all sat down, the pastor, a squirrel named Brother Mike said, “Let’s all pray that God will sanitize our paws.” A hamster named Sister Birdie said, “For those of us with weak faith, I have wipes.”

“I need one,” said an otter named Brother Dennis. Everyone laughed.

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After lunch the kids played under the trees. Ivey climbed up one and sat when the Three Gladiators came by, chasing Nick. Secretly she wanted to join in. But the thought vanished as her best friend, a hare slightly older than her named Claire joined her. “Ivey! Remember on Wednesday night I said I’d bring you the first Redwall book?” Ivey nodded. “Well, here it is,” said Claire. She handed it to her. The squirrel opened the book. It was about an Abbey called Redwall, where the villainous rat Cluny the Scourge attacked, and how a brilliant young mouse named Matthias found the sword of the Abbey’s long-ago hero Martin the Warrior and defeated him………

Chapter 2: The Zettles

INSIDE HER room, the squirrel Ivey was sharpening a stick. The wood shavings fell onto the floor until she decided it looked enough like a sword. “Ow!” It feels like one too, she thought, as she put it in a sheath made out of plastic swing casing. ‘Dingdong’ went the door. The two mischievous otters Garret and Steven were here! Although troublesome at times, the otters were two of Ivey’s many best friends, perfect for war games. Today each of them had brought a wooden sword. After their mom left, everyone headed for the backyard. Ivey grabbed a bamboo stick called Flydeath. “Do you want to play searats?” asked Allie. “Ok!” said Steven. He scrambled onto the playhouse. “What’s your pretend name?”

“Isabella,” said Allie.

“Clara,” said Lauren.  

“Summer”, said Ivey.

“Capt. Badrang,” said Garret.

“Mr. I’m-going-to-catch-Clara. No, Gabool”, said Steven. He laughed and leaped from the “ship”. ‘Clara’ screeched and ran, but ‘Summer’ blocked her way. ‘Badrang’ kept her against the fence. She was surrounded. “Parley!” she yelled, trying to break out. “Fine. I’ll name our terms,” said ‘Gabool’. “1, you are our prisoner. 2, we play castle. 3-”

“Ok, ok,” she said. She went to the sandbox. “I am not being a queen cause then I have to marry someone. I’m a knight,” “I’m the King.” “Ok, I’m a knight too.” “Can I be the Princess?” Finally everything was settled. Steven was king, Ivey and Garret were knights, Lauren was princess and Allie was queen. Steven said, “Ok. I’m king and I say you’re all fired. Ha-ha.” Garret stood up. “Then we’re rebelling. Ha-ha to you!” He drew his sword. “I’m with you, Garret!” Ivey stood and drew hers. Steven scrambled out on the monkey bars. As a squirrel, Ivey easily scampered under and barred his way by sitting on the other end. Steven swung down. Ivey leaped for Flydeath, yelling her warcry, “Eulaliaaa!” She grabbed Flydeath and locked him with it. He poked her with his sword. Ivey poked him with her sword. She wrestled his out of his paw and tossed it to Garret. The otter caught it. Ivey let go of Steven and ran to Garret. “This is war, Garret!”

Garret stuck out his tongue. “And we have your sword. Maybe you should surrender!” He blew a raspberry. Just then Allie, who had now decided she was on Steven’s side, came up with a toy bow and suction cup arrows. “Here, use these.” Ivey scampered down the side of the playhouse and made several sandballs. The squirrel returned with a bucket of them. She dodged an arrow and flung a sandball down. It hit Steven on the back as he turned to pick up another arrow. This one hit Garret on the forehead. It didn’t hurt, but it stuck. He lay down on the floor playing dead. Outraged, Ivey smashed five sandballs together and threw. It hit Steven’s head, and as he wiped sand out of his face he yelled “Flag of truce! Flag of truce! Parley!”

“Of what would you parley?” asked the squirrel. “You killed Garret. Take that!” She threw another sandball, which was so big it knocked Steven over. “I said parley!” he yelled.

“Fine. Of what would you parley? My terms are 1, you stop attacking, 2, you leave, 3, you let me pelt you with another sandball.”

“Ok, my terms are 1, no sandballs, no arrows, 2, you’re all un-fired, 3, Garret’s only wounded.”

“Agreed.” Smack!

Ivey pulled off the arrow and gasped, then laughed. There was red on the tall otter’s forehead but on closer inspection it proved to be cherry Kool-Aid that Allie had dipped the ends of the arrows in. She grabbed a stick and string and quickly made a bow. She shot it at Steven as he picked up the arrows. A yell proved her accuracy as she turned back to Garret. “Garret, just get better now, would you?”

“Ok,” and he got up. After lunch, Ivey tiptoed outside and hid the bow and arrows in a box in the playhouse.

Chapter 3: The Swimming Pool

“WAHOO!” LAUREN tossed a blowup whale into the air. The three little squirrels could hardly wait. Their otter friends the Zettles and the hedgehogs from across the street were going to the pool with them. Dingdong! The Zettles! Dingdong! Samuel, Maddie and Chloe, with Brennan in a float suit.  Vrmm! “The pool!” Piling out of the car, each one had a pair of goggles, alligator diving toy, float, towel and sunglasses. Brennan had a rubber duck. Garret and Steven, the otters, bounded in immediately. “Ooh, look who’s gonna get sunburned!” said Ivey. The two quickly waded out and stood in line for sunscreen. “Brennan!” screamed Ivey. She ran to the pool and dove just as Brennan stepped off the tanning ledge into 5’ water. “Bad boy, no-no, got to go in the little pool.” The little hedgehog was upset and began to cry as Ivey hauled him out of the pool. His mom hurried over. “Thanks, Ivey,” she said. “I’m just glad I remembered the float suit.”

“Get your toys!” Ivey grabbed a pair of goggles and diving toy, the otters took floats, Samuel began floating on his back, Brennan, Lauren and Chloe splashed around in the baby pool, Allie and Maddie, inseparable friends, played mermaids on the tanning ledge and the moms talked.  Garret beached his ‘boat’ where the mermaids were. “Any mermaids coming back to the sea with me?”

“No way!” Allie and Maddie answered simultaneously.  Allie pushed the whale away, with Garret still on it. Halfway to the other side of the pool it capsized. Allie and Maddie capsized laughing. Something grabbed Garret’s footpaws as he went under and pushed him up. Ivey’s head popped up beside him and laughed as she let go of him. “You OK?”

“I’m fine. Thanks. Hey!” Steven was making off with the whale, leaving Garret with an inner tube. He flopped onto it and struck out hard with all paws, moving across the water at a tremendous speed. He went underwater and capsized the whale again, leaving Steven with the inner tube. Four noodles floated by. Steven grabbed one and bopped Garret with it. Ivey bopped Steven, Samuel bopped Ivey and Garret bopped Samuel. Soon they were all in a noodle war. Ivey fought wildly, taunting when Garret took her noodle, “Ha-ha! You’re so scared of a girl that you have to take her weapon in order to feel safe fighting her,” and latched onto the noodle. Garret tried to hit her with one noodle and drag her around on the other. The squirrel hung on and laughed. “Whee! It feels like a roller coaster! Ha-ha!” With a sudden jerk she spun off Garret and took the noodle. She hit hard at him and he stepped back. Steven got tired and said he was the referee. Samuel joined him. “Ok, there are two rules,” the otter said. “ 1, the referees can’t hit and 2, you can’t hit the referees.” Leaving the two “enemies” to fight each other, they objected only if they were hit. When Garret took Ivey’s noodle and she tried to push him underwater, Garret said, “Hey, is that fair?”

“Those are the only two rules,” said Samuel. Ivey pushed Garret under and took the noodle. She pulled at his and tried to get him underwater again. (Later, the squirrel found out the moms had been watching during the battle and wondered why she wasn’t swimming away while all three boys were hitting her with noodles.)

Untitled Comment

9:43 AM, Sep. 10, 2005 .. Posted by Anonymous

Oh, Ivey! This is wonderful! I'm so honored to be a included in such a well-written story! I especially like the ground-breaking, and Allie the Squirel's kool-aid arrows. That sounds just like something Claire and I would have done. However, when we used to play castle, I always insisted on being a princess in disguise-- it's so lovely and dramatic!
--Caitlin the Hare