TWO
xxxxxGroaning, Rosemary sat up. —She had woken to the rumbly, bumputy-bump of the hunting jeep, and
now Jeff was shaking her!—xxxxx“Come on, Rose, you need to get up, Ben says so.”
xxxxxShe swatted where it sounded like his voice was coming from. And missed.
xxxxx“You missed.”
xxxxx“I’m aware of that.” Rosemary yawned.
xxxxxShe opened her eyes and looked around, wondering where she was.
xxxxxThey had stopped in what looked like the middle of the forest, next to an old oak tree.
xxxxxSeeing it, although it was raining and she was still half asleep, Rosemary scrambled out of the jeep and into the tree.
xxxxx“Hey, Rose, get down here and help us pitch the tents!”
xxxxx“Hang on, Ben, I think I saw something up here, I’ll have a look and be down soon.” She replied, quickly thinking up a lie. Really she just wanted to climb. She climbed, and climbed, nearly to the top.
xxxxxAs Rosemary climbed she grew tired so she sat down on a small, uncomfortable but steady branch.
xxxxxRosemary sighed and looked in the tree below her for a more comfortable seat.
xxxxxEventually, she found one.
xxxxxSlowly, Rosemary climbed down. About half way she stopped to rest. Looking around she thought she saw an orange flicker above.
xxxxxAll of a sudden Rosemary thought that this would be her only chance of seeing the strange animals the whole world was looking for.
xxxxxFilled with adrenalin, Rosemary clambered up and into the tree next to the oak, which turned out to be one with very large leaves, perfect for hiding small animals, she thought.
xxxxxShe kept climbing toward where the orange flash had been.
xxxxxShe was getting closer. She could feel it.
xxxxxSuddenly, there was an angry chatter.
xxxxxPeeking around a leaf she saw them—the oversized mouse—she had no idea how that got up there—the racoon with white around its mask, the chipmunk with brown stripes where others have black and the squirrel that’s actually orange!
xxxxxIt wasn’t until the mouse had climbed onto the racoons back and they had all moved along, that she realised that she was drenched, the rain had stopped, and the others were calling her come down.