Looking for Adventure!

Thanks to Jason, from http://jasonfrels.com/2020/11/21/sunset-by-the-river/ for another inspiring photo.

It had been a week now since Henrietta had escaped from the Las Vegas Zoo and she was having a great time! Not only did she have her new turtle friends, Myrtle and Tulag, for travel companions, but she met other friends in the woods as well.

There was Bobo, the brown bear, who was a friendly as could be. They had a lot of fun down at the river, he would catch fish while Henrietta enjoyed swimming and cooling off.

She had met Caramel the rabbit, who had been the Easter Bunny a few months ago and was still hopping around feeling so proud. Caramel had introduced her to his sister Taffy. Taffy was polite to Henrietta but Henrietta got the impression that she still held a grudge towards Caramel for being the Easter Bunny. She didn’t look too happy when Caramel was talking about it with a light in his eyes. Henrietta thought that him being the Easter Bunny was so cool! She secretly wondered if there ever could be an Easter Hippo! She wanted to do something important!

Rascal the raccoon had introduced her to his family, who were all so nice. There were also so many squirrels, chipmunks and foxes that she had met. The squirrels always seemed to be in a hurry to scurry up a tree, so she didn’t talk much to them, but she often heard their friendly chatter to each other in the treetops.

This morning Henrietta had awakened early, she was excited, for they were going to travel more today. They had found a new trail that they hadn’t been on before, and wanted to see where it led.

She was munching grass on the riverbank later that morning when Myrtle and Tulag came to find her.

“Good Morning Henrietta! Are you ready for our adventure today?”

“Yes, oh yes!” she replied. “Lets go! In fact I know the perfect song to sing as we go.”

Myrtle and Tulag silently groaned. They really did like Henrietta, but …. her singing, not as much! Oh well, she was so kind and happy, that they couldn’t help but be happy with her, even if her singing caused a headache. They needed to somehow make their shells more sound proof!

They had been walking for awhile, and Henrietta had just stopped singing, so Myrtle and Tulag poked their heads out to look around. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, a bright, sunny day. Who knew what possibilities the day may hold. Up ahead it looked like the trail may soon end. They were wondering if they would find anything exciting when Myrtle asked Tulag and Henrietta a question.

“Do you hear what I hear?” asked Myrtle.

“The peace of Henrietta not singing?” Tulag replied, as Henrietta harrumphed.

“No, listen!” said Myrtle.

They all froze for a moment, at what they heard. It was human voices, and Henrietta was afraid it was someone from the zoo looking for her. It didn’t take long though to figure out that whoever these people were, they were not from the zoo. They all sighed in relief as they continued to listen.

It was a man and a woman, and they didn’t appear to be very happy. They were clearly arguing!

“It was your idea!” the man said.

“Well she looked nice and said she needed help, excuse me, for having a heart!” the woman sharply retorted.

“So now what are we supposed to do, thanks to the dilemma that your heart got us into!” the man replied back. “We have NO money! NONE, as in zero! He stuck his hands in his jean pockets, not even any coins to rub together! I hope you don’t mind sleeping out under the sky.”

At this the young lady started to cry and the young man’s voice softened.

“Oh Jade, I am sorry. I know it wasn’t your fault.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

“We will figure something out.”, he said. “Maybe my truck will break down on her, would serve her right for stealing it and robbing us! I am just so glad that she didn’t hurt you! I can’t lose you!”

Henrietta’s eyes started to fill with tears, she felt bad for this poor couple. Then she closed her eyes, and walked off the trail to give the couple some privacy as they shared an intimate moment. It was silent, they weren’t talking anymore, their lips were busy in another way.

“We should do something?” Henrietta said to Myrtle and Tulag.

“Like what? You are a hippo and we are 2 tiny turtles, what are we supposed to do? We don’t have any money.”

“True!” said Henrietta, and they all were lost in thought.

Meanwhile not far from the woods, was a shiny blue truck on the side of the road with its hood popped open.

Tanya slammed it down with a thud! Just my luck, she thought!

She kicked at the stones along side the dirt road. A broken down truck and out in the middle of nowhere! How long would it take for another car to drive by that Tanya could flag down?

She guessed that she would have to walk to the nearest town. At least she had a wad of cash on her, she smiled at that. She had struck it right, picking a couple heading to Vegas for a honeymoon, with plenty of cash on them.

So she would be fine, she would figure things out. She always did. She might not like being stranded on this dusty road right now, but it sure beat sitting in a cell. They would learn, no one could keep Tanya locked up!

She looked around and saw a trail not too far away, looked like it headed into the woods. Ahh! She had always liked the woods, perhaps she would enjoy following the trail for a little. Take a break from being on the road. She smiled as she walked towards the woods, maybe the woods would help her clear her head, as she decided her next step.

(to be continued….)