by Rich Ritter
My
name is Tina, and I want to tell you a story about my cat, Smokey. Sadly, I’m a
grownup now, and we buried Smokey beneath the boughs of a giant spruce tree by
the beach a long time ago. But when I was seven-years-old and could still talk
to the animals who lived near my house, they told me this story. When I think
of the story now, it seems too fantastical to believe. But I know in my heart
that the story is true because the ravens told me it really happened. As did
the squirrel. And the pudgy little mouse who lived in the woodpile. I’ve never
shared the story with anyone. You will be the first. I really hope you like the
story, but more importantly, I hope you believe it as much as I do, because the
animals told me it was true.
♦ ♦ ♦
Smokey
was a fraidy cat. He was afraid of the vacuum cleaner. He was afraid of the
water sound in the shower. He was afraid of the barking dogs that lived in the
house tucked into the hillside across the road. He was afraid of the screeching
eagles who used razor-sharp talons to snag salmon in the channel. He was afraid
of snow when it fell off the roof and thumped on the ground below. But mostly,
he was afraid to go into the dark forest that surrounded the house. He tried it
once, a few years ago, but that was the last time.
But,
surprisingly, Smokey was not without friends. Sometimes, when the sun shined,
which was not often, he found the courage to venture onto the deck that
overlooked the beach below. His best friend, Squeaky Squirrel, often visited him when he did this, and usually brought
his best spruce cone to share, even though Smokey only pretended to eat it. Two
glossy black ravens, named Big Raven and
Smaller Raven, often glimpsed the
activity on the deck and swooped down to join the fun. And a pudgy little
mouse, whose name was Pudgy Little Mouse,
upon hearing the flapping wings of the ravens and the chattering of the
squirrel, usually scurried up from her nest in the wood pile on the beach to hear
the gossip of the day. If the meeting took place during the summer, a pair of Rufous
Hummingbirds, who preferred to be called Mr.
and Mrs. Hummer (rather than Mr. and Mrs. Rufous), often hovered over the
activity on the deck as long as they could before darting off to find a nice
flower with lots of nectar or, better yet, a sparkling hummingbird feeder with
fresh sugar water.
One
Friday afternoon, during a period of overcast skies and light rain, Squeaky chirped to the ravens in his
squeaky little voice, “It is a shame that Smokey is such a fraidy cat and will
never join us in for a walk in the forest or a picnic on the beach. It is truly
a shame. I wish we could do something about it.”
Big Raven said, “I agree.
We should help Smokey to not be a fraidy cat.”
Smaller Raven said, “A walk in
the forest does not interest me, but I do love a picnic on the beach,
especially on a nice day.” She tilted her head. “As far as I can tell, Smokey
has been a fraidy cat forever. What could we possibly do to help him?”
Squeaky’s bushy tail
vibrated a few dozen times and he chirped, “I would also like to invite Smokey
to my nest so that I can show him where I live and give him more spruce cones
to eat, but he is such a fraidy cat I don’t see how we could ever help him to
not be a fraidy cat.”
The
three were pondering and discussing how to help Smokey, when Pudgy Little Mouse arrived. She listened
for a while, then suggested, “What if we asked Smokey to go down to the beach to
do something very important, something that only he could do? Something that
would prove to him and everyone else that he is not a fraidy cat?”
No
one had really noticed, but Mrs. Hummer
had arrived and was hovering above the meeting and only buzzing a little when
she moved about. She chose to listen instead of saying anything because
hovering took a lot of energy all by itself.
Squeaky, intrigued but
not convinced, asked, “Like what? Smokey would never go down to the beach
because he’s terrified of the eagles. Whenever we’re visiting on the deck and
an eagle screeches nearby, he disappears into the house in the blink of an eye,
which is a very short time for a squirrel.”
Big Raven, who was known
for his cleverness, felt a clever idea pop inside his small but impressive
brain. “I think you’ve given me a clever idea, if I don’t mind saying so myself.
He’s afraid of eagles, so let’s work with that idea. Did you know I can mimic
an eagle’s screech? Even the eagles think I’m an eagle when I do it. Would you
like to hear it?”
Squeaky, who was not
terribly fond of eagles himself, shuddered at the thought. “No thanks for me.
I’ll take your word for it. What is your clever idea, and why do I care if you
can shriek like an eagle?”
Big Raven cocked his head in
a raven sort of way and smiled, although it’s hard to imagine how a beak can
smile. “What do you think of this? Let’s tell Smokey that Pudgy Little Mouse must travel a great distance along the beach to
visit her sick mother. Let’s tell him that he’s the only one who can take Pudgy, and that he has to do it right
away because Pudgy’s mother is very
sick indeed.”
Smaller Raven frowned, although
it is also hard to imagine how a beak can frown. “Smokey would never go down to
the beach. He’s a fraidy cat, and he’s afraid of eagles. Remember? And what
exactly is it that Pudgy Little Mouse’s
mother is sick of?”
Pudgy Little Mouse squeaked, “But my
mother’s not sick.”
Big Raven said, “That’s not
the point.”
Squeaky asked, “Then what
is the point?”
Mrs. Hummer finally spoke. “I
agree with Squeaky. What is the
point?”
Big Raven reminded
everyone, “The point is I can make a sound like an eagle. Are you sure you
don’t want to hear it? It’s really scary. Even the eagles—”
Squeaky interrupted, “No
thanks. I already told you I would pass.”
Smaller Raven said, “I’ve heard
it, and it is very realistic.”
The
discussion raged on for nearly an hour—in squirrel time that is—until the
friends finally hammered out a plan. Although everyone agreed that the plan was
not perfect, they also agreed that it was better to execute a pretty good plan
sooner rather than a really perfect plan later. The plan would require the
following steps:
Tell
Smokey that Pudgy Little Mouse’s
mother is very sick, and might die of whatever it is she is sick of any time
now.
Tell
Smokey that Pudgy Little Mouse would
like to visit her mother as soon as possible, just in case she dies of whatever
it is she is sick of.
Convince
Smokey that he is the only one with enough speed and agility to safely deliver Pudgy Little Mouse to the home of her
sick mother, who lives in a hollow log quite far down the beach.
Explain
to Smokey that it should be a perfectly safe trip because the eagles have
likely flown north to look for salmon by the river. No one really knew if this
was true or not, but it was an important part of the plan to convince Smokey to
make the trip.
When
Smokey carries Pudgy Little Mouse on
his back to see her sick mother, Big Raven
will fly out of the forest and swoop down on Smokey and Pudgy Little Mouse and make his eagle screeching sound—which he has
promised is quite amazing and even the eagles think he’s an eagle when he does
it—to make Smokey think he is in real danger when actually he is not.
After
Smokey completes this incredible journey with Pudgy Little Mouse, everyone will tell him how brave he is and he
will finally realize that he is not a fraidy cat after all. Then everyone can
celebrate with a picnic on the beach, because Smaller Raven is not interested in a walk in the forest.
There
you have it. Not a perfect plan, but likely good enough.
A
few days later, when Smokey had dared to venture onto the deck to find a nice
sun spot next to one of the white plastic chairs spaced around the white plastic
table, Squeaky jumped from a nearby
tree branch to the top of the railing right above Smokey.
Squeaky said, “Good
morning Smokey. Nice day to lounge on the deck. Not too hot, and a little
breeze to rustle the trees. And I see that you’ve found a nice sun spot!”
Initially
startled, Smokey said, “Yes, it is. And I have
found a nice sun spot. But for some reason that I do not understand, these sun
spots never stay in the same spot for long. I may have to move to a different
sun spot in a while. One can never predict what will happen.”
Squeaky waited a few
seconds before speaking again. “I heard that Pudgy Little Mouse’s mother is very sick.” He paused for dramatic
effect. “Actually, I heard that she’s so sick that she could die any time. I
also heard that Pudgy Little Mouse
would like to visit her, before her mother might die from whatever it is she is
sick of, but Pudgy is very sad
because she has no way to get there.”
Smokey
licked his paw and used it to clean his face (although one could argue that he
was merely coating his face with cat spit). “Why doesn’t she have any way to
get there? Can’t she just walk along the beach like everyone else?” Smokey was
not really sure how everyone else walked along the beach, but he thought it was
a good suggestion.
Squeaky said, “Because
she lives a long way from here in a hollow log on the beach, and it is too far
for Pudgy Little Mouse to walk
because she is…that is to say…she is…sort of…well, pudgy. I suppose Pudgy could try to lose some weight to
make the trip possible, but who knows how long that would take. And then what
would we call her? Little Mouse just
doesn’t have the same ring to it, if you ask my opinion.”
Smokey
stretched in the nice sun spot and then rolled slightly to track the movement
of the sun (although he had not yet figured out why the sun moved). “Why don’t
you ask Big Raven to fly her there?
I’ve seen Big Raven carry a bag of
French fries all the way to his nest without dropping a single fry. And I’m
pretty sure Pudgy Little Mouse does
not weigh more than a bag of fries, even if she is sort of pudgy.”
Squeaky flicked his tail.
“I thought of that myself (although he really hadn’t and had to think fast). But
what if Big Raven accidentally dropped
Pudgy Little Mouse and she landed nose-first
on a sharp rock? You claim he’s never dropped a single fry, but what if he has
and you just weren’t around to see it? After all, you don’t get out all that
often.”
Smokey
said. “If Pudgy landed on her bottom
in a skunk cabbage she would probably survive. But I see your point about a
sharp rock, especially if she landed nose-first.”
Squeaky rubbed his chin.
“What if you took Pudgy Little Mouse to visit her sick
mother before she dies of whatever it is she is sick of?”
Smokey
twitched. “Me? You’re asking me to take Pudgy
Little Mouse to see her mother?”
“Yes,
I’m asking you.”
“Are
you sure her mother is really sick?”
“Yes,
she is very sick, and as I have explained to you, she might die very soon of
whatever it is she is sick of.”
“But
that would mean walking through the dark forest to the beach and traveling out
in the open a long way from the safety of my home where the eagles fly down and
snatch fish from the water with their sharp talons. Have you ever seen the
eagles snatch fish with their sharp talons? It is a horrific sight to be sure. There
is no way I can do it. It already gives me the shivers to even think about it.”
Squeaky ignored the part
about the horrific sight of sharp talons. “But if you don’t take Pudgy Little Mouse to visit her sick
mother, then how is she going to get there? And if Pudgy’s mother dies while she is trying to lose weight, then what?
Smokey
gulped hard. “But the eagles…and the sharp talons…and…and…”
Squeaky grinned a sly
little squirrel grin, but it was hard to see because it only lasted the blink
of a squirrel eye, which is even shorter than the blink of a cat eye, which is
even shorter than the blink of a— “I think they’ve all flown north to look for
salmon by the river. I’m nearly sure of it. I even asked the ravens about this
and they are pretty sure of it too, because they keep track of these kinds of
things. The eagles shouldn’t be any problem at all.”
“What
if they come back?”
“They
won’t come back.”
“What
about bears?”
Squeaky said, “Bears?
What kind of bears? I thought you were only terrified of eagles. I didn’t know
you were afraid of bears too.”
“What
about the dogs? I can hear them barking across the road. What if they run
across the road and go down to the beach right when I’m taking Pudgy Little Mouse to see her sick
mother?”
Squirrel sighed. “Oh, for
goodness sakes. Are you going to help Pudgy
Little Mouse visit her sick mother before she dies or not? You have to
decide.”
“Can
I just pretend we never talked?”
Squeaky patted his hind
foot on the railing a few dozen times. “No, you cannot. Will you help Pudgy Little Mouse or not?”
Faced
with this choice, Smokey felt he had no choice, which was not really true,
because one always has a choice. To avoid any danger, all he had to do was to
decide to do nothing, which was in fact one of the possible choices. But doing
nothing created other problems. For example, doing nothing might be seen by his
other friends as cowardice, or worse, apathy. “Can I think about it for a few weeks?”
Squeaky crossed his arms
and frowned. “No. You can think about it for about 10 seconds, because if you
think any longer you might hurt yourself.”
Smokey
decided to go with his cat gut, which had served him quite well in the past.
“Alright. I’ll do it. But I’m already thinking about the eagles. And the dogs
too. Oh, and don’t forget the bears.”
Squeaky clapped his tiny paws.
“Fantastic. I knew you’d come through! Pudgy
Little Mouse will be so happy.”
Immediately
regretting his decision, Smokey sighed. “Now that I’ve made this stupid
decision, what’s next?”
“Meet
us on the beach, tomorrow morning after dawn, down by the tree where the dog’s
ashes are buried, by the little stone shaped like a heart. You can’t miss it.”
Startled
by the thought of going down to the beach in broad daylight, Smokey coughed up
a hair ball. Still searching for an excuse to avoid the task, he asked, “What
if the butler or the maid are not awake to open the door?” This was not really
a good excuse because Smokey had never asked either one of them to open the
door in the past, although he had thought about it a few times just to test
their loyalty.
Squeaky winked. “That’s
easy. Use the cat door, the one you’ve only used once, or maybe twice. I can
show you where it is if you don’t remember. I’m pretty sure the ravens can show
you where it is too.”
Smokey
plopped down on his white paws. “I guess I’ll see everyone down on the beach
tomorrow morning.” A blurry image of sharp, snatching talons immediately
flashed across his vision, followed by two dogs and a bear.
Squeaky chirped, “Pudgy Little Mouse will be so happy! Don’t
be late.”
♦ ♦
♦
The
next morning broke cool and sunny. It took Smokey a few minutes to find the
courage to force himself through the cat door (which was a bit tight because he
had gained a little weight since the last time he’d used it), then a few
minutes more to overcome his fear and walk to the edge of the dark forest, then
even a few more minutes to ignore the little voice screaming in his cat brain
to turn back or die, then one minute more to trot down the trail to the beach.
When he finally arrived, everyone was waiting for him—except Big Raven, which seemed odd.
Smokey
tried his best to speak without showing any fear. “Where’s Big Raven? I thought everyone was going to meet me here?”
Smaller Raven offered a
near-truthful explanation, which she figured was not wrong given the plan
everyone had agreed to. “He had a little errand to run, or should I say fly,
and couldn’t join us this morning. He sends his regrets.”
Squeaky quickly changed
the subject. “Ready to take Pudgy Little
Mouse to see her mother? I know she’s eager to get started.”
Pudgy Little Mouse flicked her long
mouse tail. “I can hardly wait. I’m ready to go.” Then she added, a bit too
dramatically, “…to see my very sick mother before she might die of whatever it
is she is sick of very soon.”
Smokey
attempted one last excuse to avoid the trip. “How am I supposed to carry Pudgy Little Mouse to see her mother? I
have no way to hold her and run at the same time.” Feeling a shiver crawl up
his back when he thought of the eagles, he added, “Maybe we should rethink this
whole idea before someone gets hurt, or worse.”
Pudgy Little Mouse scurried onto
Smokey’s back and grabbed the fur behind his ears with both little paws. “No
worries. I’ll hang on tight. You’ll see.”
Smokey
sighed because he had run out of excuses. Crestfallen, he said, “Then I guess
there’s nothing stopping us now,” and he finished the rest of the sentence in
his cat brain so that no one could hear: from
running down the beach in broad daylight where an eagle will snatch the both of
us with sharp talons and tear us to shreds with its sharp beak before feeding
us to an eaglet, or maybe two eaglets.
Squeaky jumped and waved.
“Time to go! Have a safe trip!”
Mr. and Mrs.
Hummer
buzzed their excitement.
Smaller Raven squawked, “Yes,
time to go! We’ll be waiting for you when you return!”
With
all of his friends now waving goodbye, and a cloud of gloom settling just above
his ears (although only Smokey could see it), he took a deep breath and started
off. At first, with the sun warming his whiskers and the fresh sea smells
tickling his nose, he began to think this wasn’t all that bad. He heard the
sounds of seagulls in the distance, which at first alarmed him, but then he
decided that he liked the sounds of seagulls. Something rustled in the trees to
the left, but it turned out to be a small porcupine climbing up a tree. The
waves surged gently to the right, which was also a soothing sound that helped
Smokey relax a little. The sun shimmered pleasantly off the wet rocks at the
water’s edge.
Pudgy Little Mouse announced, on
cue, because she knew Big Raven was
about to make his grand entrance, “Hey, this isn’t so bad after all. All that
worry about eagles and there’s not one to be found anywhere. We should make
this trip to see my mother again sometime.”
At
that moment, when Pudgy had finished
her announcement, an ominous shadow crossed Smokey’s path. Then, to his
complete horror, an eagle screeched directly above.
Pudgy Little Mouse exclaimed, also
on cue, “Oh, my goodness. It’s an eagle! Run Smokey, run!” But at the time, Pudgy Little Mouse thought to herself: Wow, Big Raven really can screech like an
Eagle. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that was a real—
Smokey
did not look up because he was too afraid to look up. The piercing sound of the
eagle was enough to nearly double his heart rate, which was already pretty high,
and he instantly began running as fast as he could. The ominous shadow followed
Smokey and Pudgy Little Mouse and
began growing larger. The eagle screeched a second time and the sound was
closer than before.
Pudgy Little Mouse rolled onto her
back and looked up. She thought to herself: I
must say that I’m impressed. Not only does Big Raven sound like an eagle, he also
looks like one. Then her heart rate nearly doubled. She reached back and
began steering Smokey by pulling the fur behind Smokey’s ears left and right. She
screamed, “Smokey, run faster and turn when I pull on your fur!” She pulled and
Smokey zigged right. He pulled again and Smokey zagged left. The eagle swooped
down and barely missed snatching Pudgy
Little Mouse right off Smokey’s back. The eagle circled around and began a
second run. The eagle screeched again and dived at Smokey and Pudgy Little Mouse. Pudgy yanked the fur behind both ears and Smokey immediately
stopped in a shower of black sand, causing the eagle to miss by a cat whisker. Pudgy pushed Smokey’s ears forward and
he raced ahead again.
The
screeching eagle attempted to snatch Pudgy
Little Mouse and Smokey three more times, but each time Pudgy managed to steer Smokey away from
danger, especially since Smokey was now running and darting as fast as a
cheetah. After using a lot of energy without catching anything to eat, the
eagle gave up and flew away. Smokey and Pudgy
Little Mouse arrived safely at her mother’s home in the hollow log, and she
served them tea in tiny little cups and tiny little crumpets with marmalade while
they rested from the ordeal of the screeching eagle with the sharp talons. Although
exhausted from the ordeal, Smokey was pleased to find that Pudgy’s mother had apparently recovered from her sickness and was
doing quite well.
♦ ♦ ♦
About
twenty minutes had passed since Smokey and Pudgy
Little Mouse had departed to see her mother, who was very sick and might
die very soon of whatever she was sick of. Smaller
Raven, Squeaky Squirrel, and Mr. and Mrs. Hummer were discussing the
importance of keeping their clever plan a secret because if Smokey ever found
out about the plan he would probably still think of himself as a fraidy cat for
the rest of his nine lives.
Squeaky said, “Yes, I
agree completely, because if Smokey ever finds out—”
Smaller Raven finished Squeaky’s sentence, “…about the plan,
then all of this work will have been for nothing.”
Mr. and Mrs.
Hummer
buzzed their agreement enthusiastically.
Squirrel opened his mouth
to say something very important, but then did not say anything. Instead, his
mouth opened even wider and stayed open because Big Raven swooped down and landed in the middle of the discussion.
Big Raven stretched his
wings and settled into a majestic pose. “Sorry I’m late, but on my way here I happened
upon a bag of French fries sitting on a picnic table next to a burger and
milkshake and got distracted. Although I tried, I could not help myself. Did Smokey
and Pudgy Little Mouse already leave?”
♦ ♦ ♦
Because
of his friends’ clever plan, which everyone admitted turned out a little
differently than anticipated, no one ever again thought of Smokey as a fraidy
cat. From that day forward, he was known by all the forest animals, including
the dogs who lived across the road, as Smokey the Lionhearted. And Smokey
learned an important lesson too. He learned that courage is not the absence of
fear; it is instead taking action is spite of fear. Smokey never forgot this
lesson, even though he did still hide behind the curtains when the butler started
up the vacuum cleaner.
THE END
