A Night In The Woods!!!
by Bentley Marlowe It all started on a nice lazy day in August. Chrissy and I were snoozing and catching a lovely Gulf breeze, when Maggie and Charlie broke the silence.
Maggie: Woof! Wake up yu sleepies! It so nice out dat we shud go to da woods an spend da nite! Charlie: I haff all our sleepies bags reddy an da cooler is fulla fude! Bentley: Mewyawn..... is mew kids me? Wat cud be bedder den dis? Nice soff beds, warm breezies an our Meowmie to brings us fude! Chrissy: Isn't dere wile aminals in da woods - an bugs an stuff? Maggie: Aw come-on. Yu guys are jess lazy. We didn't do nuttin all summer but lays roun an naps! Bentley: Oh...... okays. Led's go get our bak paks reddy. Chrissy: I gonna takes my faffurite jammies an a can a bug spray! Charlie: Donut furget to roll mewr sleeps bag in dere or mew gonna beez sleeps on da leafs on da groun! Maggie: I ken carries da cooler. Yu all jess get wat yu need. So - off we went - into the great unknown - no, I'm just kidding. We've been to the woods before. The beginning was pretty uneventful. The woods were nice and cool and all the flowers were delicious. We walked in silence, enjoying nature......... until. . . . Chrissy: Is anyone noze where da lidderbox is? Bentley: Sheesh Chrissy, we in da wuds. Effury place da lidderbos. Chrissy: Wat mew means? I isn't sees no lidderbox...... Charlie: Da groun bees da lidderbox. See all dose leafs? Dey da lidder. Jess digg fru dem, du mewr buzness an den put da leafs bak. Maggie: Did yu see me go ahind dat bush afore? Wat do yu think I was do? Chrissy: (horrified) - wells, iffen I got to - sigh. So, Chrissy went behind a bush, all the while mumbling to herself - Maggie's a doggie, she alla time goze outside. I so empurrass........ The rest of the walk went smoothly. We found a nice clearing and spread out our sleeping bags. I built a fire and Charlie passed around some fresh toonas from the cooler. We were all tired and crawled into our sleeping bags and went right to sleep. I woke up early and looked around. Chrissy was finally asleep after complaining for hours. Charlie had gone into Maggie's sleeping bag and they were all cuddled up .......... then I noticed something odd. Someone was sleeping in Charlie's sleeping bag. I quietly woke up my brother and my sisters and pointed over to the bag. We all just kept looking at each other until I got up the nerve to go unzip the bag. A tiny head popped up. It was a kitten! He didn't look like any kitten I'd ever seen before, but I knew that we came in all sizes and colors. I asked him what his name is and he whispered "Bob the Cat" - or at least I thought that was what he said. He looked hungry, so Maggie poured him a bowl of milk from the cooler. As he lapped it up, we had to decide what to do about him. Chrissy: I fink we shud luk fur his Meowmie.
Charlie: Dese is bigg wuds, she cud bees anywheres! Bentley: Wells, we shure cannut jess leaf him here. Maggie: I know - we ken jess take him home wifth us! So, we all ate a hearty breakfast, packed up our stuff and started the long walk home......wth Bob the Cat joining us. We arrived at a clearing and decided to stop to eat lunch. It appeared as if someone had camped overnight there. Halfway thru lunch, we realized it was US that camped there last night! Chrissy: On no - we muss be losted! (then she started crying)..... I want my Meowmie! I want my fluffy bed. I WANT MY LIDDERBOX!! And that's when we heard it..... a loud HISSSS coming from the bushes. Chrissy and I huddled together. Charlie hid behind Maggie. Maggie answered this unknown critter with a loud WOOF WOOF! Then the "hisser" jumped out of the bushes and we knew that we were all going to get eaten. As she approached us, we saw that she looked a lot like Bob the Cat. Bob ran over to her calling "Meowmie, Meowmie".........
Meowmie? Well, she did look like a big version of our little friend. Could she be his Meowmie? How mad would she be that we were taking him home with us. We closed out eyes so we wouldn't see what was going to happen next. Chrissy whispered to me ' Ben, mew bigg dummy - his name not Bob da Cat. He IS a bobcat!! We could feel her approaching. We felt her warm breath on our faces...... but she didn't bite us! Instead, she thanked us for taking such good care of her baby and asked if we were lost. Maggie: Um....tanks for not eating us, Misses Bobcat and, .yes ma'am, we losted. Misses Bobcat told us how to get home, but before we left, we asked her if she would like some lunch. As she ate, she told us that three more kittens waiting for her at home, so we gave her all the leftovers to bring back for them. We said our good byes and were home just in time for dinner. We couldn't wait to tell Meowmie our story, but we were hungry, so we ate first. We started to tell her, but we were so tired that we all just fell asleep. That's ok, we can tell her all about it in the morning. None of us is ever going to forget our night in the woods........
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