The ants all fell silent and just stared at her. She acted like she was brushing dust off of her, then said quietly, “I know you all have a lot of questions about things that I know. I’ll be happy to tell you, if you will just quit screaming at me all at once. Let’s all sit down in a circle. I’ll answer ONE question, and then someone has to introduce themselves to me. Then I’ll answer another question, and so on. Does that sound okay to you?”
The young ants thought that sounded like a great plan, and after much scurrying around, they finally sat is kind of a circle, with Nakiry in the middle. She learned a great many names that day, so many that she could barely keep them straight! But one little female ant her age stuck out in her mind. Renita.
Renita was a lot like Nakiry. She was a bit outspoken, she acted as though she may be better than the rest, and her tales portrayed her as a brave young ant. Yep, just like Nakiry.
After the names and the story-telling was over, they went to lunch and came back to play together. There were a few other young ants who hung around, wanting to be Nakiry’s friends, but Renita was the only one she was interested in. So, Nakiry walked up to her and said, “Do you want to be my friend?”
Renita was delighted! She also saw herself as curious and brave as Nakiry, and she really, REALLY wanted to meet the animals up close, instead of just seeing them around and hearing about their stories. “Of course I’ll be your friend, Nakiry,” she said quite solemnly. And the two friends went walking toward the tunnel-holes, away from the play-yard, hand in hand.
18. The elders were very shaken up, indeed! What Natu was telling them could cause a panic in the meadow! They had to find some way to tell everybody without scaring them. They talked with Natu about this for a very long time. Finally, they thought they had come up with a solution.
Natu was walking around up top when he spotted Ramey. “Hey there old man,” Natu called out. “Ramey, could I have a talk with you?”
Ramey looked at Natu sideways with his - sometimes green, sometimes yellow, but this time – green eyes. He recognized him as a librarian and knew that the elders had confidence in him, so he said, “Sure. Where’s good with you?”
“Somewhere a bit less public than here!” Natu noticed what a good looking cat Ramey was. He thought, he’s starting to live over there by Lily. Hmm.
So they took a little walk away from the colony, when all at once Natu said, “Here will be good. Ramey, I’ve been talking to the elders since Timmy told me of your experiences lately. Frankly, the elders didn’t know what to do about it!”
“Hard to imagine that,” replied the curly-haired cat, “they usually seem to know exactly what to do.”
“Well, we think we’ve come up with a solution, and that’s why I want to talk to you. You see, when you came here remembering everything, and had the others remembering, the colony began to look up to you as a special creature. Of course, we all know now that you’re here BECAUSE you are special, but….”
“I understand what you mean Natu,” said Ramey as he licked his paw and ran it around his face. “Please go on.”
“Okay, then. Ramey, the elders would like for you to explain this new information about the other meadow to the colony. They figure the ants will listen to you. With Timmy, Lily and Rabbit beside you, they can add anything that you may leave out, and also add a demonstration of protection for our meadow. This will have to include a promise to go back from time to time to make sure there are no new animals over there to worry about.”
19. Ramey couldn’t believe his ears! The elders wanted him to tell everyone that he had talked again with Francis, and that the other meadow was for bad animals that could come to their meadow and cause trouble?? Looking away from Natu, he said, “Well. That is a surprise. Is it okay if I think about it and maybe talk it over with the others? I’m not sure it’s a good idea to let everyone know that they could be in danger at any time. Why not let them live peacefully?”
“The elders and I discussed this. But they had just promised that there would be no more secrets about the meadow and that anyone could ask whatever they wanted. They decided to be up front about this. The young ants will not be invited to this meeting, though.”
Ramey found Lily and Rabbit frolicking by Rabbit’s home, and the three of them went in search of Timmy. They couldn’t find him anywhere in the meadow, and they were tired from looking. As they lay down to take a nap, Timmy came walking up to them, licking his face, muttering, “Good homey, yum.”
Rabbit immediately yelled at Timmy, saying “How can you eat at a time like this? We need your help!”
Lily calmed down Rabbit by reminding her that Timmy didn’t know there was anything going on.
Timmy said, “What? What’s going on, friends?”
Since Ramey was the one Natu had talked to about this, it was left to him to explain it to his friends. “How do you tell them something like this?”, he fretted.
Timmy thought for a moment and remarked, “Francis said it was rare that an animal would be sent over there, right? We stress this to them, and that the only bad animal they can remember is Hawk, so it may not happen again for a very long time! Ramey, we don’t need to make it sound like doomsday.”
“Yes, and be upbeat about our meeting with Francis. I’m sure everyone wants to know about him,” added Lily. Rabbit shook her head yes so enthusiastically that she fell over on her side!
20. Renita and Nakiry had quietly climbed on top of Rabbit’s head, and were amazed at the gathered crowd. They saw her father ready to write everything down. They saw all the birds of the meadow, and the grasshoppers, and the frogs, and just Everybody!
Everybody except the elders. Nakiry remarked that this was very odd indeed.
Renita asked, “what is odd, Nakiry?”
“Well look, Renita! Everyone in the
entire meadow is here, even the deer, but the elders are not!” Nakiry whispered, “you don’t think this is
about the elders, do you?”
“Oh, goodness,” Renita cried, “whatever could be going on?”
The two friends decided to stay on top of Rabbit and wait until they found out. They were Really curious now. The elders simply never missed a meeting of the meadow!
Suddenly, Ramey and Rabbit and Timmy and Lily all moved to stand together in the middle of the gathering. Renita and Nakiry were on Rabbit’s head, too, but no one knew that.
Ramey’s voice boomed out, “Friends and family, we have news about our beloved meadow. Because I came with the first message, and my three friends and I found out about the second one, the elders have asked me to bring these messages to you.
“When I am finished, you are welcome to ask any of us whatever questions you have, and we have been given permission to answer any question truthfully, and not hold anything back. Hopefully when I am done, you will all understand.
“When I came to this meadow, I surprised a few people by knowing where I came from and why I was sent here…..”
“and so, my friends, please understand that there is a very small chance of anything threatening us. The four of us, Rabbit, Lily, Timmy and myself, will be vigilant about keeping an eye on the other meadow. The birds could be helpful, too, if they are over there, by just taking a glance to make sure all is well. The ones who gather the fish and berries can also keep vigil for us. With all of these eyes, we will know right away if anything changes next to our special meadow.”
The crowd was cheering, there were tears of happiness and tears of fear, because some folk just can’t help but worry. But everyone was proud of the animals in their life who was so special, they came from Heaven above to take care of them.
Most everyone had questions, but the most of them were about Francis.
“He looked like one of the elders, with a robe, beard and a sort of yellow glow around his head, but he was much taller,” explained Lily.
“Taller than our elders?” Do you think he’s more important than our elders?”
Timmy took this question. “He is taller than I am when I am on all paws, so yes, he’s taller than the elders. But I believe the elders and Francis have their own important roles to perform and each does their own job.”
20. “Whew, that certainly took longer than I expected,” muttered Ramey.
“Well, you knew there would be questions.
It seems we are a meadow of intelligence, because there didn’t seem to
be any stupid questions in the lot!”
Lily exclaimed.
Rabbit agreed, saying, “Yes, I think everyone walked away very aware of what has happened and comfortable with efforts to help them stay safe.”
“That’s good. Maybe we can lay this thing at rest and get on with the fishing, and berry picking, and honey licking, and sleeping.” Timmy chuckled as he walked away and said, “Good night all. I’m going to head to my tree trunk in the forest. It looks like rain!”
“He’s right!”, exclaimed Rabbit. “I better get back to my warren before it starts!” She started hopping toward her home.
“Well,” said Lily. “This poses a problem. There’s room in Rabbit’s tunnel for me in an emergency, Ramey, but I don’t think you’d fit, too.”
Ramey said, “Don’t worry, I’ll follow Timmy and sleep with him in his tree.”
“Are you sure? I’d hate for you to get wet going all that way over to his tree.” Lily worried.
“Lily, I was homeless before I found my last mom. I’ve been wet, cold, hungry…. It’ll be fine. It’s not that far.” Ramey hoped to assure Lily that she could go to Rabbit’s tunnel-hole without worrying about him. “Now, you better get going. The rain’s likely to catch you as well!”
“Oh my! Okay, Ramey, see you later!” And Lily took off running as a raindrop fell right on her nose!
Ramey had no problem following Timmy’s scent to his tree, even with the sprinkling of rain falling. About the time he got to the tree, there was a fierce BOOM, and a flash of white light just as he jumped in on top of Timmy.
“GRRRR!” Timmy immediately jumped up and
prepared to fight when he saw it was a slightly damp Ramey. “Oh!
Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t
know what….. What are you doing here?”
Ramey explained he had no cover in rain time, and hoped that Timmy would let him stay in his tree. “And it looks like it’s going be what my mom called a storm! With lots and lots of rain, and noises and lights. She used to wrap me in a blanket and cuddle me so I wouldn’t get scared……….. Oh well, enough about that. Is it okay if I sleep here tonight?”
“Sure buddy,” Timmy assured him. “We can keep each other from being scared. Heh, heh!”
21. As the bright earth-light made its way to the top of the earth-roof, Timmy moved a lot of heavy limbs and branches from in from of his tree-hole. Ramey snuck through a small hole in the mess and wandered around, looking at the damage. It had seemed that the storm had lasted a long time, and he was very glad for Timmy’s company.
When Timmy made his way out, he was surprised, but he told Ramey, “This is bad, but we better get back and see if anyone needs our help.”
“Oh!” Ramey was a bit ashamed that he had not though of that. “I’ll run over right now. I can move faster than you.”
He went straight to Rabbit’s tunnel-hole to find her and Lily trying to remove debris from in front of Rabbit’s home. He immediately pitched in and they shortly had it cleared. He told them about Timmy’s area, and that he had seen limbs and leaves and rocks all over the meadow. It was going to take some time to clean all of it up.
“Timmy’s heading to the colony to see if they need help. Let’s go!”
All the way to the colony, Lily and Rabbit were amazed at all of the mess the storm had made. Rabbit was almost crying by the time they got there, and then she really wailed!
They couldn’t find any tunnel-holes! The clover and grasses and wildflowers were lying on the ground. There were leaves everywhere, but where are the tunnel-holes!??
“Timmy, don’t come any closer!” called Ramey. “The tunnel-holes are covered up so we can’t be sure if we’re stepping in one or not!”
Timmy yelled to Rabbit, “Rabbit, you have the smallest paws, and the best claws to not hurt anything. You have to carefully start digging to open up some holes.”
“I don’t know if I can,” Rabbit wailed. “What if I hurt someone?”
“Rabbit, if they are near the tunnel-hole and hear you digging, they’ll move away so they don’t get hurt. Maybe they’ll even call to you to let you know that’s a good place to dig,” Lily explained. She often got upset with Rabbit because she was so easily frightened, but in this case, she was frightened too!
While Ramey and Lily wandered the area, calling to the ants, waiting for answers, Rabbit started timidly raking debris and sand away from a small area. After she hit the earth, she’d move to a new area.
The three friends worked like this for a very long time, while Timmy wrung his paws and tried to clean up the heaviest objects in the meadow.
All of a sudden, only a few feet from where the main colony was, there were many ants yelling to the animals! They were up top at a brand new tunnel-hole!
“Friends, I see what you are doing, and you do not know how much your attempt to save us is appreciated,” called Natu.
Rinak added, “Our tunnels got flooded last night and we had to hurry and move everyone to our emergency tunnels that blessedly stayed dry. “
The animals ran over and very enthusiastically told the ants that they were so glad they didn’t get trapped or hurt. “What happens now?” asked Rabbit. “Is there enough room for everyone?”
Kiryna told the animals that they would send a team of tunnel-workers to see if the old tunnels could be saved. If not, they would all work together to build another colony on this new spot. “We will all be cramped, but safe, while we wait,” she added. “Thank you for being so concerned.”
Rabbit, Lily, Timmy and Ramey, all with mud-covered paws, set to work clearing items out of the meadows.
22. The animals didn’t know what to do with all of the flowers and grasses that lay flat on the ground. Then, off to the side a ways, they saw bees and crickets and other insects working together in a patch of flattened clover. Timmy approached his friends, the bees, to ask what they were doing.
The queen bee told him, “The insect world has been granted special knowledge of these grasses and flowers. We know how to fix them so that they will bloom again and give us food. In a few days, the meadow will look as lovely as ever, as long as you animals keep up what you are doing.”
Timmy said, “But what about your homes? Weren’t they damaged, too?”
“Not enough to be concerned about,” answered the queen. “It’s much more important to get the food growing again. We can deal with a little inconvenience in order to do that.”
“Well, please let us know if you need our help,” called Timmy as he walked back to the rest. “You know we’ll do whatever we can to help you!”
“Thank you, Timmy. You and your friends are wonderful to have around.” And the queen went back to work performing her magic on the clover.
After a very long time, the meadow looked like its old self again. The bees had to move to another honey-tree, and the ants had to build tunnels in their new colony, but it seemed that the horrible storm that had passed them by had done little overall damage to the meadow.
Everyone had reason to be proud of the way it looked. The old, the able and the young, in all manner of insect, bird and animal that resided there, had done something to help in the cleaning up. So they decided to have a celebration.
“Yay!!” Nakiry and Renita yelled out. “Fish, berries, nectar and cakes! All of our favorites! Timmy, can we come with you when you go to gather the fish and the berries?”
Timmy chuckled at the enthusiastic young ants and said, “Of course, ladies. Step onto my paw and I will set you on my head for the parade.”
The animals set out for the stream, with the two young female ants sitting tall on Timmy’s head, waving to everyone they passed.
22. Before they even got to the stream, they knew that it was high. They could hear the water crashing over the rocks, and even felt a mist in the air around them.
Below the berry bushes were still some puddles, and plenty of mud. The rocks around the stream were very slippery with all of the water.
“Wow,” exclaimed Ramey. “I don’t think I’ve ever tried to fish in water like this, Timmy. Do you think we can do it?”
“Well, old man, I know I can do it. I don’t think you or Lily should try it. Maybe you could help Rabbit get to the berries, I’m not sure she can reach around those puddles,” Timmy replied.
Then, “Oh goodness! I can’t forget about our little princesses on my head! I wouldn’t want them to be washed off of me by some large wave!” Timmy made a big show of getting the girls off of his head and looking for a safe place to put them down.
The girls sat on a dry rock near the berry bushes and watched open-mouthed while Timmy struggled to get onto the highest, safest rock he could reach. They watched him stare into the water, and quickly snatch a fish out of the torrent! Oh, my, they were so impressed. They didn’t know how dangerous it was for the animals to provide them with fish from time to time. Nakiry promised herself that she would tell her father so the whole colony could know how brave these creatures were.
The other three were no less brave. Ramey’s legs were long enough to let him stand on the ground and