26 Stories

By Timothy Clair

A  Cranky bobcat gains a friend.  A reluctant Jack O'lantern and an aging tugboat receive longed for appreciation. A little girl learns about humility, and a bully learns about respect.  An unlikely pair of friends have some glaring differences to overcome to coexist. The 26 stories in this book are entertaining for children of all ages. These stories are about making friends, and being a friend. Hard work, self-respect, cooperation, and having fun are repeated themes in this book. The world (human or not) often has it's happy times; like a picnic under an umbrella tree. Nature  also at times  show's  its  unfriendly side, but  with  good  friends and family, there  is no problem that can't  be solved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645316220

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26 Stories

Timothy Clair

Copyright © 2019 Timothy Clair

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2019

ISBN 978-1-64531-621-3 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64531-622-0 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Anna the Armadillo

Bryant Bobcat

Cassie, the Christmas Tree

Daniel Dump Truck

Ely Eel

Freddy’s Falcon

Grandpap George

Hank’s Helmet

The Imperial Iguana

Jack-o’-Lantern Jeff

The Kitten in the Kitchen

Laura the Lighthouse

Marvelous Maddison

Nasty Neil

The Otter and the Opossum

Peggy’s Pearl

The Quail in the Quagmire

Ricky Roller Coaster

The Sea Dogs

Tony Tugboat

Under the Umbrella Tree

Vivian’s Voyage

Walley Woodchuck

The Xebec

Picking out the Yule Log

Zeus the Zeppelin

Some of my best memories are of my children’s faces as I told them stories. I made the stories up as I told them. I never wrote any of them down. I want to thank my wife Peggy for encouraging me to finally put my stories down on paper. I have enjoyed writing this book and I know I will enjoy reading the book to my grandchildren.

A

Anna the Armadillo

Anna the Armadillo

Anna was enjoying a late afternoon meal of sweet juicy insects that she was lapping up with her long sticky tongue. She had come out from her house early to enjoy a little of the warm sun. Anna normally sleeps during the day and then does the majority of her food collecting at night. She was just finishing her meal when along came Randy the roadrunner.

Hi, Anna, Randy greeted her. I see you’re up early today. Would you like to play?

Hi, Randy, Anna responded. I was wanting to get into some sunshine and decided that this would be a good day since it isn’t too hot. Then with a grin, she said, Yes, I would like to play, Randy. I’m not very fast like you, but let’s run down the path and explore!

That sounds like fun! Randy agreed. So off they went, laughing and hopping around down the path as fast as they could run. Anna laughed as Randy ran in circles around her. Being a roadrunner, he was a much faster runner and could not help but to show off a little.

They ran and ran until suddenly, they came to a clear area with some strange black rock stretching across the clearing as far as the eye could see.

What is this? cried Anna who had never seen the black rock before. She had actually never been this far from home until now.

This is a road, answered Randy who has been running along this area many times before. You have to be very careful around these black rock roads, Anna, stated Randy, Because these big, fast, heavy animals run up and down this black rock, and they go even faster than I do!

No way, Anna said with disbelief in her voice. You’re the fastest animal I have ever seen, and I think you’re kidding me.

No, really, Anna, Randy insisted, I’ve seen some of them running down the black rock road before, and they run super fast.

Looking a little doubtful, Anna looked at the black rock again. A road you called this, huh? I’ve never seen one before. This is why I wanted to explore around, Randy. I seldom travel very far from home, and it gets boring after a while. There is so much out here that I don’t know a lot about. Suddenly, Anna spotted a huge fallen log far over in the field on the other side of the black rock. She knew there would be a lot of tasty bugs, and she was hungry again after running so much.

Anna slowly walked up to the black rock. She was timid having never been near this kind of thing before. It had a strange smell, almost like oil, and was hot under the sun. She could see waves of heat radiating off of the smelly rock. Then she noticed a strange noise coming from down the far end of the clearing. There, in the distance, she could see a huge, strange animal with round legs running down the black stone toward her. It was still far away, so Anna decided to go over the black rock to the log for a snack.

Anna, be careful, Randy cautioned. That monster animal is running very fast.

I will, Randy, she replied. She hurried onward, but armadillos are not fast runners. Suddenly, a loud Blaaat was screamed at her from the huge animal. It was running toward Anna much faster than she thought possible. The loud noise startled Anna so much that she tripped and fell. She became very frightened but tried to get back up.

The huge animal was almost upon her and was making that loud scary noise again. Blaaat. Anna could not move, she was so frightened, so she started to curl into a ball as armadillos do when frightened.

Suddenly, Randy slammed into Anna, rolling her over and over. Both her and Randy rolled off of the black rock just as the big, monster animal rushed by. It made a huge wind that blew rocks and dirt all over the two as they lay there panting.

Anna! shouted Randy. You were almost killed! You scared me so bad.

I scared you? replied Anna shakily. I was so frightened. I could not move when that animal screamed at me. And it runs so fast! I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Randy.

That’s OK, Anna, Randy said with a sigh. To tell you the truth, I was almost caught by one of those strange, fast animals too, not very long ago.

Really? Anna asked with surprise. Well, what happened?

Randy looked her right in the eyes and said, I got run over.

Anna just sat there waiting for him to continue. Randy then realized that Anna had never been near a road before, so the joke he made was not going to be understood by her. So he explained, I was racing along one of these black rock roads when one of those weird animals came running up from behind me. He took a deep breath and continued, It scared me at first. Then I got mad because I’m not used to too many animals being able to keep up with me, let alone catching up to me. Well, I jumped onto the black rock and tried to outrun that animal, but its round leg came so close to me that it pulled a feather out of my tail. That hurt, too, he finished.

Anna thought about what Randy had told her. It made her feel better knowing that she was not the only animal making stupid mistakes, so she said to Randy, Thanks for telling me that, Randy. Now I don’t feel so dumb. She laughed and said, I’m still feeling a little shaky, though. But I guess I’ll get over it.

After a while, when the two felt well enough, Anna stated, Let’s go home.

OK, answered Randy. But you do just as I say because home is back over there. Randy was pointing across the black rock.

You bet! Anna quickly replied. I’m still a little scared.

Randy approached the black rock but stopped several feet away from the edge. He looked up and down the clearing and listened very carefully. I don’t see or hear any of those big animals, Anna, so let’s hurry!

As quickly as Anna could, they both went back across the black rock and back to home.

Thank you, Randy, for saving me. I’ll never forget what you did and what you taught me, Anna stated in a shaky voice.

No problem, beamed Randy. He felt good about being a hero and from the praise he was receiving. Besides, Anna, we’ve got a lot more fun ahead of us tomorrow. I thought we could check things out by a lake over in that direction. He was pointing in the opposite direction from the way that they had just come from.

Ha, ha! laughed Anna. You got a date. And I think you’ll be surprised when I outrun you, Randy.

Randy Roadrunner looked at her quizzically and asked, How is that possible, Anna?

Well, Anna said with a laugh, I will pretend that the big, strange animal is yelling at me again, and that will make me run faster than I ever could before.

The friends laughed and talked well into the evening making plans for future trips.

The end

B

Bryant Bobcat

Bryant Bobcat

Bryant is a large bobcat that has his home in a dense section of woods on the side of a mountain. He is a solitary cat, as most bobcats are, and does not tolerate intruders into his territory. Bryant especially hates dogs. Oh they make him so angry, pushing around with their noses and making a loud ruckus if they smell something of interest. Bark, bark, bark, thought Bryant. What stupid useless animals . Bryant has to hunt for his meals, and when dogs sneak into the woods away from home, their barking scares the animals that are in the area. The frightened animals hide making it hard for the bobcat to hunt. But that’s not all. Dogs do not usually like cats, especially big wild ones like a bobcat. Bobcats can be as big as a medium-sized dog, but with a lot of teeth and razor-like claws. Many times, Bryant would send a dog out of the woods with a scratched nose or worse if it was too aggressive. Ooh, I hate those dumb dogs, he grumbled.

One day, a storm appeared on the horizon, and it looked to be a bad one. It was. Rain poured from the sky for four days. Everything was soaked and was pushed around by the high winds that gusted through the forest. Many old trees fell, and the streams were swollen and running fast.

Out trying to find something to eat one wet, windy morning, Bryant was searching along a stream, when he heard a whimper. Hmm, hmm, hmm.

Oh! Food! thought Bryant. Stalking along close to the ground, Bryant got closer and closer to the whimpering. Hmm, hmm, hmm.

There! Oh, no, grumbled Bryant. A stupid dog. But when he was a little closer, Bryant’s keen eyes could see that this was a puppy, and it was on a log that had fallen across the large, swollen stream.

The wind was blowing against the puppy making him slip on the wet, moldy wood when he tried to walk. The puppy would most likely fall into the rushing water by the looks of it.

Good, thought Bryant. One less stupid dog in my territory. He turned up the bank to continue his hunt.

Yip! Wooh, wooh, wooh, was the pitiful plea Bryant heard when the puppy spotted the large cat. Bryant looked, and sure enough, the puppy slipped and barely caught himself from falling off the log. Aaarr, aaarr, aaarrr, cried the puppy.

Drats! thought Bryant. I’ll never find anything with that racket going on. Stupid dog. Against his better judgment, mind you, Bryant gracefully leaped onto the log. Using his superb balance, and some sharp claws digging into the wet wood, Bryant walked over to the puppy that lay cringing on the log looking up at Bryant with big sad eyes.

He was a large puppy. He appeared to be a black lab and was strongly built for his age. This didn’t impress the big cat, however. Stupid dog, growled Bryant. With that, he snatched the puppy up with his mouth, but surprisingly, to Bryant at least, he didn’t bite the puppy but carried him off the log to the bank.

There, you stupid dog, Bryant said. Now, go home! Bryant walked up the bank to go to his den and take a nap since hunting right now would probably be a waste of his valuable time.

Hmm, hmm, hmm, came the whine from behind Bryant.

"No, no, noooo! screamed Bryant. Go home, you stupid dog."

But the puppy just sat there, shivering, looking at Bryant with those big sad eyes. Wooh, wooh, wooh, the puppy crowed with his nose in the air.

I can’t believe I’m doing this! I must be getting old or something. Bryant went back to the squirming puppy. Its little tail was wagging in circles faster than the gusting wind. Come on, stupid dog, Bryant instructed, and off he set toward the town with the puppy jumping and stumbling along behind him.

A couple of times, the puppy tried to