Taterskin & The Eco Defenders: Book 2, Chapter 3
Book 2 ("Tell It to Future Generations"), Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
“Hello, Taterskin, how’s the family?” Albert greeted me.
Somewhat warily, I told him we were all fine, and thanked him for asking. I was planning on playing it cool at first, but I couldn’t keep it in; I had to let it out; I couldn’t stop myself from telling Albert, with pride in my voice and my heart bursting with the same, what Dab had done when he thought I was hurting Rovette.
On hearing this, Albert seemed to be almost as proud of Jehonadab and enthused about his loyalty and courage as I was. He called Dab over and gave him a vigorous petting along with profuse praise. I was as pleased as a Dog with two tails and a silver collar to see my son receive such attention.
But I’m sure the other pups would have done the same thing, if they had come upon the scene and thought that I was hurting their mother. Sometimes becoming a hero is as much about being in the right place at the right time as anything else. Timing is everything, some people say.
Anyway, Albert asked me to call the animals together. He had a proposition for us. Once all had assembled, and exchanged greetings with Albert, he got down to ‘business.’
“If you might recall,” Albert began, “We all agreed to get the band back together and take our show on the road again, so to speak, in order to right wrongs, address injustices, and so forth. That was two years ago. We have all been enjoying life and relishing the fruits of our labor (in some cases literally),” Albert said, biting into an aromatic peach, “But now, I think, is the time to make good on our promises. What do y’all think?”
Albert always said ‘y’all’ when addressing a group, even though he wasn’t a southerner.
We all somewhat grudgingly agreed that we had no real excuses for postponing our mission any longer. We did want to get those things done, but it was exceedingly difficult pulling ourselves away from a time and place where every day was like the best holiday anybody had ever had: perfect neighbors, perfect weather, interesting and enjoyable things to do, the best of friends, no worries, no stress, no problems of any sort whatsoever.
Nevertheless, we had to admit that we had promised to help out those poor people and animals from the past. It would be selfish of us to continue enjoying ourselves when they needed our help. So, we acquiesced and declared ourselves ready to go.
“There’s no time like the present,” I said. “The sooner we go, the sooner we can return — maybe by spring, my favorite time of the year.”
“What about the pups?” Rovette asked.
“Either you stay here with them, or we both go and take them along with us, right?” I proposed.
“Would it be safe to bring them?” Rovette wanted to know.
“We will make sure that they are kept safe. I know you would defend them the same as Dab defended you, and so would I. Come to think of it, maybe it’d be a good thing for them to see what we do. It’ll be kind of a ‘take your puppies to work’ day,” I said.
“More like ‘take your puppies to work’ season,” Rovette clarified.
“We will all look out for them, Rovette” Ocero the Rhinoceros said. “If anybody harms a whisker on their face, I will step on their toes — and poke them with my horn, to boot.”
The others agreed that they, too, would serve as co-protectors of our pups.
“You know what they say, Rovette — and Taterskin,” Alexis the African Grey Parrot said, “It takes a forest to raise a litter of Goldadors.”
“Or something like that,” Albert said.
And so Rovette and I were convinced that it would be safe to take the pups along. After all, who has ever successfully bested a group of animals consisting of a Rhinoceros, a Bengal Tiger, an African Grey Parrot (the most intelligent Animal on the planet), a Bearded Dragon, a Duck-billed Platypus, and a Pterodactyl — not to mention an Orange Tabby who takes its cues from the Tiger? And, probably most significant of all, the parents of the puppies. Not that we were the biggest or strongest of the group, but who would more fiercely defend our pups than Rovette and I would?
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