Recently Locusto realized that Animal Ville was suffering from both a money profit loss at the store and a food shortage. The lights grew dim and the vegetables were scarce in the wooden bins. Once spring arrived he, Lonny, and the Elvanies prepared the land for planting. From what little the store had in profits, Locusto bought two horses to pull the plow. His son Lonny named them Maverick and Chaos. In the grassy hillside Maverick and Chaos kicked up there feet and galloped shedding light that it may rain soon. Lonny fed them and made a water trough for them in separate stalls in the arena with Timothy Tiger.
They planted fields of lettuce heads, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans, and even planted a beautiful flower garden.. In the plowed , they grew corn and beans. By summer, the crops were abundant and the flowers flourished. Soon some of the Elvanian men and teens help to harvest along with Lonny. Lonny mainly took care of the gardens.
When Timothy Tiger found out the store profits were down, he came up with a brilliant idea. He figured since the his friends, the Elvanies, and the small creatures of Animal Ville had helped him through the grieving process of his wife; he'd like to return the favor. Timothy knew there was an old covered wagon in the Elvanian arena. He promised to take boatloads of their crops and floral arrangements that the Elvanian people worked on to neighboring cities. He decided to take Caitlin along to help do the processing of change.
Caitlin and Timothy Tiger started out early one morning. Timothy Tiger transported Caitlin in the back of the wagon where she took a nap or two from time to time. Caitlin's grand Elvanie paced coolers of sandwiches, pork, beef, steak and a water cooler to last the two throughout the trip. Timothy tried not to over work himself and tried to conserve his energy. However, by the end of the evening he was glad to have his steak strips, relax, and sleep before the next day journey.
It was late in the night when Timothy Tiger awoke from a dream. Lucinda was warning him that there were desperate robbers taking his inventory.. What actually woke him was Caitlin's cries out of fear for her life at hearing loud noises in the night. When Timothy realized that there were young starving children there, he roared a mighty roar and let Caitlin do the talking. The pillagers were taken aback by his boisterous voice, but then he graciously nosed out some of his own stash.
The younger children were so happy to have the satisfaction of a full tummy for once. In gratitude, they gave Timothy their cat named Boots. Boots was having her sixth birthday and she thought that Timothy was the best present ever. Timothy looked out after Boots as if she was his daughter. They would lick and bathe one another and have fun playing tag of war. Of course Timothy had the advantage given his size so it let Boots when half of the time.
Over the course of two weeks, Caitlin and Timothy made it through two major towns with several buying stores. The merchandise went from fresh produce to handmade sweaters to fresh homegrown flowers, it was not hard to choose. Store managers were glad to get fresh produce. Timothy and Caitlin made a profit for the Elvanie people of nearly 75%. Once the wagon was unloaded Timothy flew like the wind. Boots had to stay in the back with Caitlin holding him.
When Caitlin, Timothy, and Boots arrived back at Animal Ville all the Elvanies and small creatures from Animal Ville held a feast. The creatures of Animal Vile had their band sounding harmoniously in honor of Timothy's and Kaitlin's hard work. The table was decorated with all their competition ribbons fringing the table. In the center of the table there was a wild boar roasted to tender perfection. Locusto had shot wild boar when he was out hunting. It was the grandest of celebrations that had ever transpired in Animal Ville.
THE END
This is such a well rounded story. I like a lot of the motivations and kindnesses shown in this story. Timothy tiger seems like he as undergone quite a change since he lost Lucinda. He seems to have decided he wants to continue to enjoy life, though I don't know if anyone, even a tiger, ever gets over a loss like that. I'm especially interested in the relationship he has with Caitlin and with boots. Both seem so tender and really have potential to make him a likable character.
ReplyDeleteI like that the motivation for the trip is economic. That is believable and useful for creating conflict. It's also interesting that there are surrounding cities where they have to sell their goods. These communities seem insulated from the "rest of the world." How are their communities different form these cities. What are the cities like, and how do the characters react to them?
I love "They planted fields of lettuce heads, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, green beans, and even planted a beautiful flower garden.. In the plowed , they grew corn and beans." Lists are such powerful tools in prose, for creating very specific detail. Its easy for me to see this. Thanks!
Mel, I like your stories, but I want to see them all together. My memory isn't so good and I think you are introducing new characters too, so I am getting a little lost sometimes. As I recall (maybe from reading this before) the L animals are lions... But I'm not sure what kind of animals these all are, and how do they fit in with the Elvanies. I realize it is a work in progress, and it will come together eventually, but if you are going to separate it out into a group of short stories each maybe needs to be more self explanatory. I do like the detail, as Anna said, and the social interaction of the characters as cooperative creatures.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't get to know one character relly well. I think Anna might have been suggesting that you concentrate on making Timothy a kind of main character? Or maybe not? Kind of a protagonist to center the story around? And have some more back story for him, etc.? Am I off the mark here?
Now that the territory is expanding, I am wanting to kind of map it all, as in "Lord of the Rings" where it is hard to keep track of all the territory. I still have the huge map my daughter put together of the the Middle Kingdom or whatever it is called to keep everything straight for herself. She put it on her wall.
Or maybe I am making too much of this. It may all come together when you put the different parts of the story together. What do you and others think?
It is always difficult to read one chapter of a book, or one book in a series. This seems well written and lighthearted as you writing always is. I do question the use of 'money profit loss' if this is a book for children. I don't think that many people could tell you what that is. Very enjoyable. Good luck on future writings.
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