Furwaggle Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Watch your step.

It’s the start of something new in this wonderful fictitious dreamland called Furwaggle. For the first time there is unhappiness in the air by the general population. A posting on the barn door that said a new program would start at once got everyone grumbling. From now on one and all will be put on a diet and the imperial grand wizard of the beautification counsel of Furwaggle had signed it. There will be only two helpings a meal and just one dessert. There also would be only three meals a day. The imperial order also suggested mild exercise if there was time available. There was much vocal complaining by all, but the loudest was Fluffy. His howling could be heard echoing off of the mountains and his tears could have watered all the fields of Furwaggle. Even Wiggles was irritated by the thought of being deprived of his late night snack of grain. But instead of being grouchy Wiggles decided to take the high road and not display his usual surly manner. Also he thought he would try to cheer up Fluffy, anything to stop that racket and weeping, it hurt his sensitive ears. He walked over and put his wing on Fluffy’s shoulder and said, “Now, now Fluffy, there will still be plenty to eat three times a day and…” But before he could say more Fluffy interrupted with, “yes but what will I do between dinner in the evening and breakfast the next morning. I will starve and waste away. I’ll just be pelt and bones, nothing but a furry shadow of my former self”. Now that’s an idea thought Wiggles But no, Fluffy was his friend and besides who else could he get to guide him on walks around Furwaggle. Then all of a sudden Wiggles got an idea, he would use food to get Fluffy’s mind off of food. On most anyone else this would not apply but on Fluffy this was just the kind of logic that was sure to work. “Fluffy old buddy”, started in Wiggles, “how about us going over to the potato patch and see if there are any ripe ones.” And just as Wiggles had hoped Fluffy perked up and with a sniff said, “Do you think there could even be some that are cooked?” “That boy sure thinks ahead, muddled but still on the same track”, thought Wiggles. The two started off in the general direction of the Furwaggle’s potato patch, with Fluffy running ahead a few yards then turning and running back to Wiggles. He would do this over and over as they made their way along the path thru the fields and orchards. They came to a place where the path descended down a gentle slope and stopped at the edge of a small stream, posing a problem for both Fluffy and Wiggles. Wiggles didn’t care much for water, except to drink and the occasional bath, and today not being Saturday he wasn’t going near the flowing water. Now, Fluffy on the other hand loved water. Like Wiggles he would drink it and look at it but no way was he going into it. Unlike Wiggles he couldn’t swim plus he didn’t like getting any water on him, bath, rain, or other wise. Today he was having a ball, he would run up to the edge of the stream, bark a few times and then back away, all the time waggling his tail and wiggling all over. After the third such tour Wiggles nervously asked, “What is going on Fluffy? Is there another one eared green widget? I tell you right now that I’m not going to rub noses with it if there is.” Between barks Fluffy answered back, “No there isn’t any green things, I’m a looking for swimmers.” Fluffy thought that swimmers were the most graceful things in the world. So elegant, so smooth in their movements, he always thought that if he could only hold his breath long enough he could be just as pleasing to the eye as those swimmers. Fluffy then begin running up and down the stream bank, and Wiggles just sat down to rest. He had enough of that mild exercise for a while, besides that his feet hurt. Abruptly Fluffy came to a halt; there in the distant he had spotted something. With a little whimper he started off to check out what it was. After a few minutes he again came to a halt. Yep, there was a row of rocks going all the way across the stream. “I can get across this water hazard by leaping from rock to rock and never even risk getting a hair wet”, thought Fluffy. With a wag of his tail he took a leap of faith and landed on the first rock. It was a little slippery but all is well that lands well and Fluffy then took his second jump. “This is a piece of cake”, thought Fluffy, and he continued on across the stream. Then as he safely landed on the last rock there came a booming voice, “Hey watch where you’re stepping”. With a yelp, a shocked Fluffy made an unscheduled flight and landed splat on the mudded bank of the stream. After pulling his head out of the mud and spitting out more of the same, he cried out, “Who was that”? “I am Sylvester Snapper, and you just stepped on me”, came the reply. With a shake of his head to get some mud out of his ear, Fluffy said with a shakily voice, “Ok Sylvester, where are you?” “If you would look where you’re going you would see that I’m down here big foot”, boomed back Sylvester. Fluffy now realized that it wasn’t a rock talking to him and with a shake to remove some more mud he said in an apologetic voice. “I’m sorry, I thought you were a rock”. With a snap Sylvester shot back, “Well I’m not a rock, and its no wonder you didn’t see me with all that mud in you’re eyes, you could have squashed me”. Fluffy climbed up the bank a little to get out of the sticky goop he had landed in and said, “I said that I’m sorry, and by the way just what are you doing down there?” Sylvester was getting tired of all this jabber and wanted to get back to his bottom fishing, so he snapped an abrupt reply to Fluffy,” With this new diet program I’m hungry and I’m trying to get me a snack. Now go away you’re scaring all the goodies away”. With that Sylvester took a deep breath and stuck his head under the water. Fluffy could tell when he wasn’t wanted, he had a second sense in this matters, and so he climbed on up the top of the bank. Suddenly, Sylvester’s head popped up and yelled to Fluffy, “You know that you got mud behind your ear”. And with that he slipped back under the water. “Humph”, thought Fluffy as he went back along the bank looking for Wiggles. After a few minutes Fluffy spotted Wiggles sitting on the other bank and called out to him, “Wiggles, oh Wiggles, its me Fluffy”. Wiggles looked around and even with his glasses he could only make out a faint shadowy outline of Fluffy on the other bank. He called back, “Fluffy is that you? How do I get on the other side?” With a smart-alecky replay Fluffy yelled back, “You are on the other side”. Wiggles tried to ignore Fluffy’s sassy remark and said, “Fluffy quit fooling around, what have you been up to”. Fluffy took a deep breath and rattled off, “I jumped on some rocks, stepped on Sylvester’s back, got mud in my eye and found you”. This worried Wiggles, what really concerned him was that he understood all of Fluffy long-winded rambling. Just then, off in the distance came the ringing of the supper bell. This set Fluffy off and he began to shout, “It’s dinner time, it’s dinner time, and I’m stuck on this side of the water. Oh what to do, what to do.” Even at this distance Fluffy’s howling made Wiggles ears ring. To be sure and get Fluffy’s attention Wiggles yelled, “Why don’t you just cross the bridge and we can go eat?” “Bridge, bridge” whimpered Fluffy as he spun around looking all over. And sure enough just a few feet away was a bridge across the stream. With a yelp Fluffy took off on a dead run over the bridge and was at Wiggles side in a flash. “Ok can we go eat now?”, asked Fluffy. With that the two friends started back to the barnyard for their dinner.
My tiny mind likes the motto, “Don’t tread on me”. Continued… (maybe) ----------------------------------------------------------

Here is a simple little teaser for you:
Maze