Finding the Sun

This is the conclusion to The Shy Ones

Life in Rainbow Valley had returned to normal once again. All of the armadillos had left Rainbow Valley in search of even more sunshine! They liked the heat.

Cherry and Marchiatto were chatting one day in a quiet, serene place in the valley. They were at their favorite spot by a flowing stream 

“Are you feeling okay? You look a little pekid?”

Casting her eyes down at the ground Cherry spoke, with hesitation in her voice.

“I need to make a confession.”

Marchiatto perked up its ears. “What? You already confessed how you made me get up a lot earlier than I would have had to the other day. Telling time isn’t your strong point, is it?”

Cherry blusbed a little., “Thats not what I was talking about. I can tell time fine. I just don’t like numbers.”

Taking a deep breath she explained.  ” “Messing up on the time isn’t the only thing I messed up on. I may have sent the armadillos to the wrong place.”

“WHAT? The wrong place? You mean you gave them bad directions? Oooh I knew I should have had one of the guys give them directions instead. Leaving the task to a female was a mistake.”

Cherry flushed with indignation, as she poked Marchiatto with her horn. “Ouch!”

” I am sure they will find the right place eventually.  Unless the males are leading the group. Then who knows how long they may wander around, noone wantng to ask for directions.”

Now Marchiatto scowled, while Cherry kept talking. “I do feel guilty but nothing I can do about it now. Who knows, maybe they will grow to like the new place.”

“True they may. I mean they still will be sunny and warm at least. You were only a little off with your directions, right?”

Cherry didn’t say a word but cast her eyes down again.

“The armadillos don’t have fur to keep them warm. Where did you send them?”

Meanwhile the large group of armadillos were huddled together in a large field, and grumbling. “We never should have left Rainbow Valley!”

“You weren’t looking at the map right apparently!”

“I told you we should have turned a long time ago.”

“You had to keep stopping. I told you too much to drink before a long trip was a bad idea. If it wasn’t for you, we could have followed some of the others who had drifted off. They may have gone the right way. ”

Everyone blamed everyone else but it didn’t change the problem. They were not in a warm climate. Leaves were falling and the air was nippy!

“Once they ceased grumbling they decided they had no choice but to try to endure. To make the best of it.

They found places to hide in the woods and made friends with rhe other animals. That is after the shock wore off of the other animals wondering what they were.

One of the more vocal armadillos spoke to a rabbit named Thumper. “We must ask, are there a lot of humans around here? They scare us sometimes.”

“Oh when it gets cold you don’t see them traipsing around here. You should be fine.”

And Thumper was right. The armadillos almost froze over the long winter, but rarely did they see any humans. When it got really cold they found a cave and Bobo the bear taught them all ahout hibernating.

Once Spring came, they were eager to be on their way to the sunshine! This time the females led the group and soon sunshine and warmth was theirs once more.

They were so happy to be warm again, that they didn’t mind the strange humans anymore. Though there was that one crazy guy that kept pointing something at them and there would be a audden flash of light. He woukd smile and do it some more as they tried to figure out what the object in his hand was. They never learned what to call it exactly, but it wasn’t harmful so they didn’t mind it.

They saw this guy a lot and became so used to him that they would walk right in front of him feeling brave. It was good to know that there were kind humans. Life in the sunshine was perfectly fine.