Furwaggle Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Boat Trip

Because there are few roads, travel is not easy in this fictitious dreamland, called, Furwaggle. There is the main mind road over the mountain that allows easy access, because the highway of imagination is needed against reality. But most of Furwaggle is farmland, just like in the real world, long ago.
All thru breakfast Wiggles and Zorba have had a heated conversation, and it continues on outside into the barnyard after eating. Although Fluffy was sitting nearby in the chuck house, he had been too busy eating to pay attention to what the tongue wagging was all about. But now that Fluffy had his number one priority taken care of, he joins his two friends just in time to hear Zorba proclaim, “…and what if it sinks? I can’t swim”. Fluffy blurts out, “So what, neither can I”. Zorba spins around and challenges Fluffy, “Ok, then you go with him”. Fluffy never wanting to be out done, replies with, “Ok, I will. With who and where are we going”? Fluffy had in his mind that they were talking about going down to the peach orchard and having a nice little snack. But when Zorba said, “Go with Wiggles on a boat trip down the river”, Fluffy was shocked. Going some where with Wiggles didn’t bother Fluffy, he was always doing that, but boat and river made his head spin. Then it came to him, “I get it. This is a joke, right? You guys are making fun of me”. Wiggles puffed his feathers up and proclaimed, “No. this is no joke. I want to travel and see all there is to see. I want to explore like Magellan or Columbus. They did it by boat, so how best for me to see the sights than by boat”. “But I can’t swim”, Fluffy blurts out. “So now you’re going to back out”, teased Zorba. Fluffy tried to reply but no words would come. He realized that it was hopeless. He had been out tricked into the most awful thing possible, water. With a wave Zorba turned and skipped off while saying, “You guys have a nice trip and I will see you when or if you ever get back”. With a stern look at Fluffy, Wiggles said, “I will meet you down by the river early tomorrow morning, and don’t be late”.
Wiggles is sitting on a log over looking the river, while he waits for Fluffy to join him. The morning is a little foggy which makes it even harder for Wiggles to see, but he can hear something like chomping coming his way. Out of the brush stumbles Fluffy eating on an apple and carrying a stuffed backpack. “Is that you Fluffy”, asked Wiggles? “Sho is”, answers Fluffy. “You’re late”, snaps Wiggles. “Well I had to stop off at the chuck house to get some supplies, and took a little detour thru the apple orchard for a snack to hold me over for the trucking down here to the river”, replies Fluffy. Then Fluffy looks around for a moment and then asked, “Ok, just where is this boat thing”? Wiggles pointing down the bank said, “That’s it. Tied up at the river bank, and it’s waiting for us”. With a shock Fluffy blurts out, “Where did you get that tiny thing”? “Wiggles sarcasticly replies, “What did you expect the Titanic? I had the beaver twins, Tooth and Nail, make it for me. Now come before we lose the tide”. With that Wiggles starts to scramble down the bank toward the boat. Fluffy follows him while trying to figure out what a tide is and should he be worried or not.
Wiggles scrambles into the boat and starts untieing the mooring rope. He looks around to see Fluffy pacing back and forth at the waters edge. Wiggles calls out to Fluffy, “Come on, get into the boat, we are burning daylight.” With that, Fluffy backs up a few steps and takes a running jump. He lands with a splat in the river about halfway to the boat. Fluffy starts trashing in the water and yelling, “Help me, help me. I’m drowning.” Wiggles replies with a chuckle, “Stand up, the water isn’t deep enough for you to drown.” Sheepishly Fluffy does what his friend said and sees that the water doesn’t even cover his paws. As he climbs into the boat Fluffy says, “How should I know, all water looks the same to me.”
Once Fluffy is in, he grabs the big pole in the middle of the boat and hangs on for dear life. They drift out toward the middle of the river where the current starts carrying them down stream. The boat begins to rock back and forth, that starts Fluffy to whimper, “We are going to sink !!” Wiggles snaps at Fluffy, “If you would sit down, the boat will be more stable.” With that Fluffy plops down and wraps all four legs around the pole, making him feel much better. Then with a little smile, Fluffy said to Wiggles, “Thanks for having this big pole put in for me to hang on to.” With a wise old smile Wiggles said, “We seafarers call that a mast not a pole.” Fluffy said, “Ok, I will do that, my seafaring captain.” Then Fluffy began to point toward the far bank of the river and shout, “Look over there.” “Where?”, asked Wiggles. “Over here, this side of the boat.”, shouted Fluffy. With a huff, Wiggles said, “That’s the starboard side of the boat”. “Sun side, star side, who cares. Look at the river bank”, barked Fluffy. What Wiggles saw, was a large group yelling and waving at them. With a smile Wiggles said, “That’s our friends, they have come down to see us off”. With a huff, Fluffy said, “ Looks more like a wake to me”.
Almost as if in slow motion, the boat with Fluffy and Wiggles on board graceful floated on down the river. Then all of a sudden there is a bump, as something hits the boat. Fluffy lets out a squeal and stutters, “We have been hit, and it’s not the wind”. Wiggles looks around just in time to see the beaver twins, Tooth and Nail, float by on a great big log. Wiggles calls out to them, “Where are you going with that big log”? Tooth calls back, “We are going to join the rest of our tribe at the dam”. With bewilderment Wiggles yells, “Dam, there’s no dam shown on the map”. This time Nail calls back, “That’s right. We have just finished building it, and it’s a brute”. Just then as they round a bend in the river, Wiggles can see a gigantic structure. It is higher than Fluffy’s mask and goes all across the river. Wiggles stammers, “But…, but, how are we going to get past that? I want to travel down the river and see things”. This time the beaver twins answer together, “This is it. The river stops here. There isn’t any more”.
Zorba is hanging by his tail from the big tree in the barnyard when he sees Fluffy and Wiggles walk into the barnyard. He calls out, “Hi there. I thought you two was sailing down the river to far off exotic places”. “Well, we kinda ran into a little problem”, answers Fluffy. Zorba turns to Wiggles and asked, “What kind of problem? Did you sink? I told you so”. Wiggles doesn’t stop, he just keeps on walking to the barn and the only thing from him is some grumbling and a hiss or two. Fluffy interrupts the silence with, “Hay, Am I in time for lunch”?
My tiny mind thinks that good planning on land or sea is a must for success in life.
Continued… (maybe).
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Here is a simple little teaser for you.
Maze Puzzle