Little Friends

         The small caterpillar inched his way along a branch. As he went he hummed away in a tiny voice. Unbeknownst to the caterpillar, which rarely paid attention to his surroundings, a young fox was innocently walking under that same branch. All of a sudden the caterpillar slipped and fell, plop,! on the head of the fox.
         The fox panicked, and tossed his head. As the caterpillar flew through the air he spotted it, and raced after it.
         "Aaaaah! A fox! Help! Help! Heeelp!"
         "Stop screaming stupid!"
         The caterpillar slumped into the pile of leaves he had landed in. "Just eat me quickly, I hate pain," he lamented, squeezing his eyes shut. His green stripes bunched as he cringed.
         "I'm not going to eat you, ninny, what's your name?"
         "You're not going to eat me?" the caterpillar asked suspiciously.
         "No. My name's Dorado, what's yours?" the fox asked, lying in front of the pile of leaves.
         "It's Piccolo-Cello Muncie Caterpillar, but you can call me Pikkle. Um, I'm sorry, but why aren't you going to eat me? I thought foxes considered caterpillars a delicacy."
         "I've never eaten a caterpillar, and I don't want one. No offense, but you look too hairy to eat."
         "I've never been so glad I'm a caterpillar. From now on, I'll never wish to be anything else again."
         Dorado got up and shook the leaves from his fur. He watched as Pikkle inched his way to the lowest branch. As he settled in, Dorado asked, "Why are you by yourself? I thought caterpillars lived in families."
         "They do," Pikkle said, and his features saddened. He sighed and continued. "A couple of weeks ago, two foxes found our home. My father thought that the hunters..." at this Dorado shivered, and closed his eyes, "had killed all the foxes. So we lived in a hole in a tree, close to the ground." Pikkle paused again." His voice trailed off. "My mother had the same fate. The other, I believe she was female, got her. I was hiding in the house. I figured they would come back, to look for others, so I left."
         Dorado shuffled his forepaws. "Uh, I really hate to ask, but could you describe what these foxes looked like?"
         "Sure. The most distinctive thing about the male fox was that he had a slight silver streak through his headfur." With this Dorado groans, and slumps to the ground.
         "And the female?" he asked, in a sighing voice.
         "The female had very curious blue eyes. Now that I think about it they were quite pretty, however deadly. Why do you ask, anyway?"
         "Because from your description, along with the knowledge that there is only one family of foxes left in the world, tells me that my family ate your family." Dorado answered.
         Pikkle sat; a thoughtful look on his face. He liked Dorado, even if the fox's parents had eaten his own. After all, it wasn't his fault, was it? As he was contemplating this, Dorado spoke up.
         "I think you should know. Um, you were travelling in the wrong direction. You're moving closer to my parents."
         "Oh, no! What am I going to do?! I traveled all day just to get this far, and I can't stay here tonight It's unsafe."
         "I can take you to the river." Dorado suggested. "I don't mind. I have to take my little brother Jemmy there, and I could probably take you across as well."
         "But if you can get across the river, why can't your parents? They would probably find me if the river is so important to your family." Pikkle argued.
         "They don't cross the river." Dorado admitted, "There's a hunter on that side of the river, so you should be safe."
         Pikkle slid further along the branch. "But what about you? And you're brother? Wouldn't the hunter go after you two?"
         "Not if he doesn't know we're there." He replied slyly. They both laughed.
         "Okay, when do we leave?"
         "Sunrise tomorrow."
         With that, they said goodbye, and Dorado raced off towards home. Pikkle snuggled down on a leaf to nap, while he waited for Dorado and his little brother, Jemmy, to bring him to his new home.

* * *

         Running on a parallel with Dorado was two foxes. Moonlight glinted off a streak of gray on the head of one, and the other's blue eyes shone with delight. They stopped a little way from their den.
         "It's a good thing we can still run faster than Dorado, eh Jeb?"
         "Yes, the little traitor. I can't believe he's my son."
         "Well, we'll soon show him. That little friend of his will taste better than it's parents."
         With that, they crept into their den, and lay across from a very young, sleeping fox. Just as they had settled down, in crept Dorado. Pretending to be asleep, they watched him settle in beside the sleeping form of his little brother. As they fell asleep the three of them were smiling. Two evil grins, and one contented smile.

* * *

         Dorado and Jemmy walked along a path in the woods as the morning sunlight flickered through the trees. As they walked Dorado explained what they were going to do.
         "When we get to the river, I'll swim across, but you can't go with me. If something happens, I want you to run for the woods and hide, okay?"
         "Sure Dorado, but why are you going across the river if there is a hunter over there?" Jemmy, inquired, his bright, childlike eyes looking innocently up at him.
         "I'm doing it because Pikkle is my friend, and he needs our help. Whatever you do, don't tell mom and dad, or we'll get in a lot of trouble and Pikkle could be eaten."
         "That doesn't sound so good, being eaten, so I'll help."
         "Thank you, Jemmy."
         When they had finally reached the clearing where he had "bumped into" Pikkle, they stopped by the tree where Dorado had left him. All of a sudden they could hear a tiny sound. It was almost like a rumble. They looked up, and there was Pikkle, snoring away on a branch.
         Dorado and Jemmy laughed. Then Jemmy yelled, "I'm a FOX!, and I'm going to eat you up!!!!"
         Pikkle leapt off the branch, and fell face first into the grass at the bottom of the tree.
         "Don't EVER do that again, you fiendish ruffian!" Pikkle scolded. Dorado laughed, picked him up, and placed him upon his head, right between his ears.
         Jemmy piped up; "Can we sing a song, Dorado?"
         Pikkle grudging agreed with Jemmy's request. "It would pass the time."
         "Alright, but I won't be singing. I have to make sure we're going in the right direction."
         "Have you ever heard the one, Row, Row, Row Your Boat?" Pikkle asked Jemmy.
         He replied, "Yes, can we do it round robin, though? That's most fun."
         "Why not?"
         As they sang, two foxes heard them from their position ahead of the travelers.
         "Let's go faster, Bale, or we won't get there very much ahead of them."
         "Alright."
         Jebediah and Bale fox ran the last two miles to the river. They stood on the shore, panting.
         "We're finally here."
         Zmmmmm. Thump. Jeb slumped to the ground, blood seeping out of his side. Bale barked at him, urging him to get up, not knowing what was wrong.
         As Jeb's eyes filmed over, he whispered, "Hunt..."
         A bullet whizzed by Bale's ear, she yelped, and ran. She ran for a clump of trees, at the edge of the river, away from the general direction the bullets had come. Just as she got to them, a bullet found her, right between the shoulder blades.
         the hunter walked to Jeb's body, and picked it up by the hind legs. It left a little pool of blood, and dripped a trail as he carried it to Bale's limp body. He picked that one up, and carried them both to the edge of the water. He dropped the fox bodies into a boat, hidden from the shore by the very clump of bushes that Bale was trying to reach. Then he walked back across the shore, and into the woods, to wait for more foxes.

* * *

         They were almost there. The river was just a couple of minutes away. Pikkle had become very good friends with Dorado and his little brother. He found out that the, along with they're parents, were the only foxes left in the world. He certainly could relate to that. Since his parents' death at the paws of Dorado's parents, he happened to be the only caterpillar left in the world, that he knew of.
         "Are we almost there?" Jemmy asked sleepily. He stumbled.
         "Yes, we're almost there. Just a few minutes left." Dorado assured him. At that, Jemmy perked up, and walked a little faster. As they walked they veered slightly, so failed to see a pair of fox footprints, on a direct path to the spot of the river they wanted to reach.
         Jemmy was the first to spot the break in the trees, and he ran ahead. As the others stepped onto the gravelly shore, they gazed at the river. The water rushed by swiftly. Too swiftly for Dorado to cross. He looked at the water and said, "This isn't the place, the river is going too fast. We must be too far downstream."
         "Then why don't we go further upstream?" Jemmy asked cheekily. He giggled and raced ahead. Dorado walked; he couldn't do much more with Pikkle on his head. All of a sudden, he saw Jem stop, and lie on the ground, very tense. Dorado could sense that something was wrong, so he walked as fast as he could without spilling Pikkle onto the gravelly rocks and sand.
         A few feet in front of them was a drying pool of blood. And even though he couldn't move his head (because of Pikkle, he could smell it. It smelled like his father!
         As if he were in a daze, Dorado followed the trail of blood across the shore, until it led to another pool. This one was smaller, and smelled just like his mother! With that he collapsed, shaking all over. Pikkle toppled off Dorado's head, but landed on his front paws.
         "Dorado! Dorado! If this is fox blood..." for Pikkle could smell it to, "then we should leave. The blood is still fresh, and that means the hunter who killed these foxes might still be here!"
         With that, Dorado started, and shook himself. He gently eased Pikkle onto the ground, and stood up.
         We are not leaving. We...we don't know for sure whose blood this is, and we won't know for sure whose blood this is, and we won't bring you back if there's a danger of you getting eaten. Besides, we came all this way; we don't want it to be for nothing, do we?" then he called, "Jemmy!"
         "You DO NOT move from this spot, understand? But keep alert. If you notice anything suspicious, hide. Do you understand?"
         "Yes. You be careful, Dorado." He replied, with concern in his voice.
         Dorado replied softly, "I will." Then he shifted Pikkle back onto his head, and waded in.

* * *

         The hunter stirred slightly, about ten feet from the edge of the river, hidden by the woods. His sleep was not very deep, but the foxes didn't make much noise. He shifted his weight, and drifted back into sleep, oblivious to the three companions.
         Dorado found that with Pikkle on his head, it was more difficult to swim than usual. But not much.
         When he reached the other side, he looked and saw Jemmy lying on the shore, water brushing his paws, asleep. He smiled. Jemmy could sleep anywhere.
         He took pickle to the nearest tree, and waited while he climbed to a high branch.
          "Good-bye Pikkle. I'll try to come visit you."
          "Okay. Tell Jemmy to keep up the practice with his voice. I'll miss you, Dorado. Don't forget me."
          "I won't."
         With that Dorado smiled; and ran to the edge of the water. Without stopping he splashed in.
Vas Dorado swam back across the river, Pikkle looked across, and off behind Jemmy, in the edge of the forest was a man. More specifically, a hunter!
         He was aiming right at Jemmy! Pikkle knew that if he didn't warn him and Dorado, they would die.
          "DORADO!!" Shoot, he was too far away for them to hear his cries. "Oh!" Pikkle cried out in anguish. How am I going to get to them in time?"
          "Maybe if I had some way of going over there." He thought dejectedly. "But I can't! I'm just a tiny caterpillar!" As Dorado neared the shore, Pikkle prayed.
          "Oh, spirits, please help my true friends, Dorado and Jemmy, are in grave danger. They will most certainly die. If there is any way to help them, please give me the power make it possible.
         Pikkle opened his eyes and he felt...different, somehow. He glanced around for a few seconds, and something shiny behind him caught his eye. WOW!! He had wings!! He stared in disbelief. Then he remembered, and turned back to see that Dorado had reached the other shore, but still hadn't seen the hunter.
         Pikkle lifted himself off the branch, and flew. A little unsteadily at first, but he got used to it. He flew across the river. Jus as Dorado spied the hunter in through the trees, Pikkle yelled, RUN Dorado!" As the foxes ran, Pikkle could see the hunter follow with his gun, so he fluttered around in front of the gun, just as the hunter was about to pull the trigger.
         The hunters gaze followed the strange creature, mystified by the green dots in the yellow wings, and green stripes over a paler yellow body. Pikkle looked toward the foxes' direction; they were gone. He heaved a sigh of relief. Thankful that they were okay, he fluttered out of the hunter's view.
          When the little creature was gone, the hunter looked up and swore. The foxes were gone. He stood up, and made his way to the boat. As he pushed the bout out into the water, he thought aloud; "I wonder what that creature was. It looked like an insect with green bread and butter for wings. I guess I'll call it a butterfly for now."
* * *
          Jemmy and Dorado collapsed to the ground, panting. When they finally looked up, there was a tiny, winged creature, unlike anything they'd ever seen, fluttering around above them. The creature seemed friendly, and Jemmy doubted that it'd be able to hurt him. "What are you?" he asked.
         "I think that the hunter called me a butterfly, so I guess that's what I am."
          What's your name?" Dorado inquired.
         "Don't you recognize me? No, I suppose you wouldn't. Dorado, Jemmy? It's me, Pikkle."
         "What happened to you?" Jemmy asked in an awestruck voice.
         "I don't know, I couldn't tell you about him in time as a caterpillar. But the wings helped me to distract the hunter while you two got out of sight."
         "I thought I heard your voice. That was why I ran!" Dorado exclaimed, "You mean there was a hunter there?! I never even saw him!"
         "You couldn't have from the river. I only noticed him when sunlight glinted off the gun. But he left. Rode down the river in a big hollow piece of wood."
         "That's what's known as a boat, Pikkle." Dorado shuffled to his feet, and hung his head.
         "What's wrong, Dorado?" Jemmy nosed Dorado's cheek.
         Dorado sat back on his hind legs, "I know whose blood that was on the beach, Jem." he said softly.
         Jemmy looked away, and said softly, "It was mommy and daddy's, wasn't it. I think I knew that, but I was hoping that it wasn't true. Dorado, what are we going to do? We're all alone."
         "No we aren't. We have each other, and we have Pikkle. We're a family now."
         Jemmy smiled. "I know, but Pikkle," he said, "don't you want to see if you can find other caterpillars? Or other butterflies, even. You can go pretty far with those wings, cover a lot of ground."
         Pikkle's eyes lit up. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I could even find a whole community. That's been heard of, you know. Whole communities of caterpillars, working together, for a common-"
         "Pikkle!" Dorado interjected, "We get the picture. It sounds great."
         "hey, if I could fond other caterpillars, why couldn't you find other foxes? I mean, your parents stayed in this one spot their whole lives, and so did you. Who knows what's out there."
         Jemmy started to prance around excitedly. "Yeah! We could find lots of adventure. Maybe even other fox cubs for me to play with!" he stopped short. "But Dorado, if we went, we might never see Pikkle again."
         "What do you mean?" he asked.
         "I mean, we couldn't go together. All other caterpillars are afraid of foxes. So he'd never get anywhere with us tagging along. And all of the other foxes would just as soon eat Pikkle as look at him, even if he is a caterpillar now."
         "Oh, no! You're right," Pikkle said, "What are we going to do?"
         "We have to go anyway, Pikkle. We need to see what's out there. Jemmy is all too right. We have to split up anyway."
         Pikkle sighed. Why did this always happen? "I guess we'll never see each other again."
         "Of course we will, Pikkle. Think about it. Normally caterpillars and foxes don't mix. And normally I don't go through the part of the forest I met you in. I also don't go over to the river, but I had to show Jemmy where it was so he wouldn't go there by himself."
         "And caterpillars don't usually change into butterflies. "Jemmy added.
         "Yes. So it's got to be fate. And, if the spirits saw fit to make us great friends, then they wouldn't just split us up forever, would they? I know we will meet up again 'cause we're friends forever."
         "Yeah, friends forever." Jemmy stood up and nosed Pikkle. "We have to see each other again."
         Pikkle smiled, "I guess so, I mean, without you, I'd probably be dead. So it's fate."
         After a nice, quiet, uneventful night, the three friends woke to a beautiful summer morning.
         They said their good-byes, confident that they would meet again someday, and turned away. Jem and Dorado went North, and Pikkle South.