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As
they entered the village, there wasn’t
a soul in sight. Well except cats and dogs
and beavers. The air was warmer and it was
getting more and more tropical. A little further
on they saw a bunch of dark green trees that
looked like a well kept, park-like orchard. "Wonder
what kind of things grow there?" said
J, who was already feeling hungry, tho they
had only been on the road for a little over
an hour.
They started out again slowly, kkkaaaa ccclllooommppp
… kkkkaaaa ccclllooommmpp, kaaa cccllloooommppiiitty
cccllooommmppp. Suddenly two huge beaver sentries
appear on the road, with big sticks in their
mouths. Well I guess they weren’t sentries
after all ... they just went on across the
road to finish the work they were doing on
the river that flowed further downstream into
the Marshmallow Waste, or Marshies.
G let out her breath, rejoicing at the thought
of not being beaten by a beaver with a big
stick. And I mean, these beavers were big !
About 3 feet tall and 150-200 pounds. So
they kaaa … ccclllloommmppttt on a little further.
Muff was staying far back, checking out these
beavers, dogs and cats. I guess she had made
up her mind, because next thing G & J knew,
she was bounding out to play with a group of
white puppies, just like herself. Then the
village became alive with kid noises … well,
kid puppies, kid kitties, and kid beavers.
Muff was the center of attention, being much
bigger than the kids. As they rode close you
could see that Muff was talking to some of
the pups. "You don’t say!" they heard
her say.
The Chips hanging on the horses manes made
a bright, parade-like spectacle of an entrance,
and all the kid cats, pups & beavers parted
the way as if they were royalty. "Take
us to your leader!" said G… expecting
that they would understand. They didn’t seem
to tho’. They just cocked their heads to one
side, or pricked up their ears, with a puzzled,
wrinkled eyebrow look. So she called Muff over
and said "Muff, why won’t they talk to
us?" "Oh," muffled Muff, with
a mouthful of kid kittie in her jaws, "I
think they only speak pup, cat and beaver." "Well,
talk to them in pup, then, and tell them to
take us to their leader," Granma commanded. "Duh,
okay." said da Muff.
She was a bilingual dog and could speak dog & people;
probably cat and beaver too. She growled and
whimpered out some sounds and the pups formed
a line. Muff said to follow them. So off they
went, coming to the center of the village and
the biggest chocolate covered cherry mud-grass
hut around. Out of it came a sleepy ‘ole looking
beaver, weighing in at about 300 pounds with
a gray beard to the ground. His flat tail was
gray, too, as he smacked it on the ground.
Kitties and pups leaned out the windows of
the hut, and kid beavers gathered around the
‘ole beavers feet.
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