The First Time I Was Scared - Part 2

The food had run out by the next day and it was time to go back to the market. I was in charge now and there was no way I was going to carry enough food back home to feed everyone. We needed three days of food but only Harry and Cecil volunteered to come with me. I didn't blame the others because we had never been so scared and we were all missing our mom an awful lot.

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I had an idea, one that wasn't that great I suppose, but it was the only one that came to me. It was time to meet our neighbor. I left home by myself and headed towards that shack, the one with the giants name on it. As I got closer, the monster thing saw me coming and came bounding right at me, letting out that awful noise from its mouth. I froze in my tracks and just closed my eyes waiting for its teeth to sink in to my back. I could feel his hot, stinky breath breathing all over me as I waited for the pain that was sure to follow.

Instead, I felt this long, smooth yuck of a tongue slapping up against me again and again. I thought he was just getting me all nice and slimy for a better tasting meal. I slowly opened my eyes and came face to face with this huge, black nose. I was so small in comparison as his huge body shadowed over my shaking bones, blocking out the light. After a little while, this monstrosity began talking to me. I could actually understand what it was saying and I was amazed. "What?" I asked in a shaky voice.

He said his name was George and told me not to be afraid of him. 'O - man', was I happy. I told him my name was Thumper and what had happened to us yesterday. He looked down at me with his sad, brown eyes and then told me he would come with us to the market if we needed his help. I was so happy that George wanted to be our friend and gave him a big hug around his leg. He was just too big to hug all of him. I couldn't wait to get home and tell the others about my new friend.

None of my brothers or sisters would believe me, so I had to prove it to them. "If you don't believe me, then come outside and see for yourself", I said to them. Only Peter, Cecil and Pumpkin came with me and when they did, George was there waiting, as big as ever. But now, instead of seeing nothing but bad in this massive creature that was staring down at us, I saw a friend and someone that wanted to be our friend as well. In my eyes, George was now a thing of beauty. I told my brothers not to be afraid and that George was coming to the market with us. Nobody would dare mess with us now.

It took a while to convince all my sisters to come out and meet our new friend, but eventually they did and after all the shaking and fear had stopped, we were on our way back to the market. This was not the same happy outing as was our first trip. Mom was not with us this time and we all knew and understood that this was a very dangerous place we lived in. But, this time we had George close to us and he would be our protector.

We arrived at the farmers market and once again grabbed enough food that would last for quite a while. Even George helped out by carrying a huge bundle of carrots in his mouth. I hoped he wasn't going to eat them all before we got home. On the way back, we all felt a little bit scared but it was really nice to have our new friend beside us. This time, that ugly pointy face monster was nowhere to be seen and we all arrived home safe and sound. I thanked George and gave him a big kiss. He slapped that big tongue of his all over me until I was soaked, but I didn't mind.

The next morning, we woke up early and ate a big breakfast until our tummies were full. Cotton and Gracie wanted to go outside to play and as they were going up the chute, something strange was on its way down the chute. Cotton and Gracie came running back as fast as they could and we all gathered and huddled together in sheer terror. Not again -- not this red, pointy faced beast? I could see the shadow nearing towards us and I was about to yell out for George to come and help. Just at that very moment, I could now make out what this shadow was, and screamed -- "Mommy!"

We all raced towards her and hugged and hugged her. The tears were flowing big time from all of us. "Where were you mommy? We thought something bad happened to you". She told us that she managed to get away and ran and ran until she couldn't run any more. She just wanted to get that big, bad red monster away from us. I was so proud of my mom and listened to every word she was saying. I thought I would never see her again, but here she was, right beside me. We were all so happy that our family was back together. I told mom about our new friend and she was shocked but happy at the same time. "My brave little Thumper", she said and gave me a big kiss. Her whiskers tickled my face and I kissed her back.

We were wide awake for such a long time, just listening to the story about how mommy escaped. I brought some food over to her and watched as she filled her tummy, and I was happy. My mom had come home, I got a new friend and we were all together again with lots of food from the farmers market. This was the best day of my whole four months but I'll never forget that awful day yesterday -- the first time I was scared.

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The First Time I was Scared - Part 1