Four Friends and a Crow

By Rachael Anne Long

Four friends, a tiger with faded stripes, a bald hedgehog, a squirrel with no tail and an elephant with a broken trunk that once played tunes set off with a crow to find a doll's hospital. They hope the hospital will make them better. Their journey starts on the night before Christmas Eve, in an old cardboard box in the attic of an abandoned house. Will they reach the doll's hospital or will they become a meal for a hungry eagle owl or fall foul of the footbridge cat? And what of the fox and the local coffee shop? And just why does a crow need to wear socks?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachael Anne Long
• Release date: Nov 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005963354

Rachael Anne Long

Rachael Anne Long is the author of several ebooks, including the anarchic animal adventure series, The Lost Forest and the adult short story collection, First Person Singular. Rachael has previously worked for government departments and a national children’s charity. She lives in Somerset, England with her daughter and their orange rescue cat where she writes, bakes, eats cake and enjoys being herself.

Book preview

Four Friends

and

a Crow

a Christmas tale

rachael anne long

©Rachael Anne Long 2021

Four Friends and a Crow

The box in the attic

Our story begins on the day before Christmas Eve, in the attic of an empty rundown house. In the corner of the attic, pushed up against the far wall by the brickwork of the chimney flue sits a cardboard box. The box is old and battered and one corner is always damp - whenever it rains, water seeps its way through a hole in the attic roof and drip, drip, drips onto the box. In times past, warm smoke and embers rising up the chimney from the downstairs fire brought a little heat to the brickwork and some winter comfort to the box, keeping it dry and just warm enough to be bearable. But now - well, it had been a long time since anyone had lit a fire downstairs and longer still since repairs of any kind were made to the house.

Tonight the air outside was crisp and chilly with moonlight, instead of rain, coming through the hole in the roof. Inside the box an elephant with a trunk that once played tunes but now just sounded like a blocked-up nose, a hedgehog that had too few quills and was indeed bald in places and a squirrel who was tailless huddled together trying hard not to think about the cold and the coming frost.

Suddenly and without warning, the top of the box opened and a faded orange leg appeared and then another. The legs slowly lowered until the feet touched something…

Hey, that’s my head! Phan the elephant complained.

Sorry, should have said, ‘Coming in’. Didn’t think you would move from one corner to the other.

Tygrr - a very faded and barely striped anymore tiger with only one ear, lifted his feet off Phan’s head and dropped into the box. He slipped off the back pack he was wearing and pulled out a grubby looking towel.

You got it back, well done. Hezzie the hedgehog smiled.

Tygrr nodded. That pesky rat who stole it was only planning to eat it! I got to it just in time. The four friends huddled up together and draped the blanket over themselves.

Is it as cold outside as it is in here? enquired squirrel Tirol.

"Not by much but the moon is full and shining bright - moon shadows everywhere. And, I saw Crow. In fact it was Crow who pointed me to where that pesky rat was hiding. And…Crow gave me this bit of paper. It’s from a magazine or it maybe one of those leaflets that gets