Cotton jumped up one morning bright and early and said to himself "today is going to be an adventurous day!" He decided to leave before all of his brothers and sisters got up and stirring. Cotton nibbled a little breakfast snack and headed out the door. Cotton's mother saw that he was anxious to get going, so she asked "Cotton, what are you doing today?" He said he was looking for an adventure. She warned: "Do not go past the metal fence…but you can play in the woods all you want." Cotton just rolled his eyes and kept going.
Cotton ran up the rabbit trails, since his family made them, looking for an adventure. He saw berries that he tasted, holes that he explored, bushes that he jumped, and even new trails that he followed. He was following an old trail that hadn't been used in a while when suddenly he looked up and saw a beautiful bed of delicious looking flowers. He'd never seen those flowers before. He started toward them when "bump", he ran into something. It was tall and metal…this must be the fence mother was talking about…but those beautiful, delicious looking flowers were not too far inside that fence. Since he could easily slip through the holes, he decided to explore further.
Well, once Cotton got inside the fence, he saw many more beautiful flowers, bushes, green grass, and plenty of room to play. He pulled a few flowers and they were delicious. He rolled on the soft grass and it was very comfortable. Just when Cotton was trying to decide what else to do, he heard the birds that were eating close by start flying away…he heard footsteps running…and by the time he turned around he could only see a wide-open mouth with huge, ugly, slobbering teeth. Cotton darted to the left and was running as hard as he could. He could feel the hot breath of the ferocious animal behind him. He turned to the right but didn't loose the attacker. He ran through a bush, but the wild, mad dog just trampled it behind him. All of a sudden something hit him from behind…he rolled…dust was everywhere…he heard growls…the dog was rolling too. As soon as Cotton could get up, he looked forward, saw the fence and started running again with everything he had in him. He could hear the footsteps behind him. When he was within jumping range of the fence he used all of his strength to jump. Cotton sailed through the air and fit perfectly through the hole. Immediately after he made it through, he hear a loud "bang", looked behind him, and the dog had hit the fence running full blast after Cotton...he barely made it.
Needless to say Cotton had received his adventure for the day, so he slowly made it back toward home. On the way home he was re-thinking the morning and remembered his mother saying "Do not go past the metal fence…but you can play in the woods all you want." Once he got home, he was walking in to take a deserved rest break, looked over to his mother and said "mother, remind me that you really do know more than I do and that I should listen to you more". She said "Cotton, that doesn't sound like you…are you feeling okay?" And he said "I'm fine, just keep reminding me." She smiled and knew that whatever happened, he learned a big lesson that day.
by Dana Lumley
dana@danalumley.com© 2003 Dana Lumley