Wog Book 5: Tales of Tossledowns

By Laurence Knighton

Young woglets never heard about great, great, great grandpa Hog Wog before. He was a pioneer of sorts, the first to set down roots in the haggard canyons of Waterloom. Little did he know that at certain times of the year giants traipse from the other side of the Outer Plains to cool their tired feet in the Reach River.
Their loud partying was tolerable the first year, and the second,
but come the third season, Hog Wog felt it necessary to teach the giants a lesson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laurence Knighton
• Release date: Mar 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452468013

Laurence Knighton

Born in the Rocky Mountains under a loaf of wry bread, Laurence (Larsky) Knighton is a graphic designer and illustrator by trade, having written and illustrated Disney's 'Donald Duck' syndicated daily comic strip for years before its cancelation in the American market. Still illustrating and writing fun, entertaining stories, he resides in Boise, Idaho with his handsome plush-stuffed black Lab 'Buck' who never sheds, barks, or runs away.

Book preview

Tales of Tossledowns – Book 5

WOG

by

Laurence Knighton

Smashwords Edition

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PUBLISHED BY:

Laurence Knighton on Smashwords

Wog – Book 5 Tales of Tossledowns

Copyright © 2011 by Laurence Knighton

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Prologue

The crawlspace beneath the old abandoned house atop Karnberry Hill smelled wet with crumbly age. It was chilly under there, too, and a resident yellow spinspider tried her best not to shiver.

Patience, the spider knew, that’s what it took to stop shaking—the sort that her kind do best—and usually she knew the routine of remaining perfectly still by heart. Simply put a spider mind onto something else and the shivering would end. It sounded easy. Besides, what else did a spider have to do while waiting for the next meal to walk into one of her sticky snares?

But knowing what to do wasn’t as easy as doing it. Try as she did to focus her thoughts elsewhere, the spinspider couldn’t get her legs to hold still.

That’s because she hated getting cold just as much as she hated getting wet. And she really, really, really hated getting wet.

Needless to say, she was not a happy spider.

Earlier, a deluge of rain fell outside the crawlspace, and it seemed as if most of the water flooded through a crack in the crumbling foundation where it soaked everything—especially her array of sticky webs. Imagine her panic when so many were damaged by the weight of so much moisture. And she couldn’t bring herself to do much about it. That would mean getting wet and she wanted no part of that.

She was a spider and spiders are always anxious to get to work. At least those that don’t mind the sensation of water clinging to their hairy legs, and there aren’t many.

The thought made the spinspin shiver again. To take her mind off the chill and her worse fears about water (drowning, especially), she looked below to where she left a beetle securely attached to a dry section of web.

She saved him from drowning earlier when the water first came into the crawlspace. She even went so far as to submerge her feet in the water when she severed the silky strands that held the beetle to the web. It was horrible, but she managed to drag him higher up where he would be dry and safe.

He was huge. Partially wrapped with layers of sticky silk, he was a rare tomebeetle and he didn’t seem to mind the cold. Most likely it was the wrapping that kept him warm. She had every intention of finishing him like all spiders do with their catches. There was even a spot near the far end of the crawlspace where she planned to hang him while he cured. But, she never got around to finishing the chore because she got sidetracked.

Actually, it was the book that the beetle carried on his back in a tattered pack that caused her to stop. Even now, while she shivered and wished the crawlspace would warm up a bit, the book held her interest. Called ‘Tales of Tossledowns’, it was a collection of the beetle’s travels and it captured her curiosity.

It had been a long time since she had heard a good story. Because visitors rarely drop by the crawlspace without ending up as a meal it was only natural that she accept the tomebeetle’s offer to barter a story for a bit of her time.

Of course, she didn’t let on how excited she was. She was a spider and such notions are