Fibles (2 page)

The next morning there was a lot of fur flying and rumors floating around the schoolyard from all the kids about the changes coming to the back­woods. Then the school bell began ringing for class to start.

"We have connected the school to the back­woods through the broad rubber band network, and today, we will issue you a new iPaw computer to use for your homework. Your first assignment will be to write a paper and send it back to school," said Miss Marmot the schoolmarm.

After class let out, Weaver the beaver was eager to get back to his dam to do his homework on the new iPaw computer. He wasted no time in writing a paper on using a spruce tree to spruce up his dam. As usual, Potter the otter went to his play station, streaming up and down the stream, trying to come up with a new excuse for not doing his homework.

When Potter took a rest break on the stream bank, he saw Pat the polecat, who was poling a raft upstream. He asked, "What's your favorite excuse for not doing your homework?"

"I fell off my raft on the way to school, and my homework got wet," Pat the polecat replied.

Next to come by was Kellogg the dog, who was dog paddling downstream and was asked the same question: "What's your favorite excuse for not doing your homework?"

"My homework fell off the table, and my little brother ate it," Kellogg the dog replied.

"None of these excuses will work anymore, because the new iPaw computer doesn't use paper," Potter thought.

Potter decided to go visit Weaver to see how his dam was doing. He noticed Weaver plugging his iPaw computer into the logwood tree to log-on and send his homework to school.

"Now that my homework is finished, I can get back to the beaver thing of fixing up the leaking dam," said Weaver.

"That gives me a great idea for an excuse not to do my homework," said a scheming Potter.

Weaver winced. "So what's your great excuse?"

"I'll set up my iPaw computer on a tripod and film the two of us fixing up the dam. They'll see I had no time to do my homework," stated Potter.

Potter began logging on the logwood tree, while Weaver was chopping down a spruce tree. The two of them quickly went about sprucing up the dam with the spruce tree. The leaking dam was fixed in no time at all.

"Now I can get back to the otter thing of playing and having fun," said Potter.

The next day after class let out, Weaver saw a sight he had never seen before. It was Potter, sitting on the stream bank, actually doing his homework by writing a paper.

"I take it your excuse didn't work," noticed Weaver.

"I forgot to log-off the logwood tree, and the camera on my iPaw computer was streaming video of me, playing and having fun in the stream instead of doing my homework," said the sunken Potter the otter.

The older Ewe sisters didn't like to eat their vegeta­bles. What they really liked was playing, laughing, and rolling to their favorite interactive games, all morning long, on the big-screen TV, with their younger sister, Ewe Wee.

"It's time for lunch!" MaaMaa Ewe shouted to the kids.

The kids hit the TV remote and scampered into the kitchen. They took their seats at the lunch table to start eating their fare of whole-grain breads.

"We love our peanut butter and jelly sand­wiches!" the kids said happily.

As the kids were munching away on their PB&J's, MaaMaa Ewe was sifting through and scanning the food section of the paper, looking for coupons. She noticed an article on a new restaurant that was opening called the Organic Meadow. "Let's all go out for dinner tonight," said MaaMaa Ewe.

"Where are we going?" asked the kids.

"The Organic Meadow. They have an all-you-can-eat veggie buffet," stated MaaMaa Ewe.

"Eating vegetables stink," said Pee Ewe, the oldest one.

"They're so bla-a-and!" seconded Ewe Too, the second oldest.

"I've never had vegetables before, so I'll with­hold judgement until I try them," said Ewe Wee, the youngest one.

The afternoon flew by, and dinner hour was nearing. Everyone was hurrying to get ready. Combing coats, washing hooves, and brushing teeth were required before jumping into the mini-van. The trip to the new restaurant was the quietest ride ever, because the older Ewe sisters were not looking forward to eating their vegetables.

"We're here. Everybody stay together when we enter the buffet line," MaaMaa reminded the kids.

As the Ewe family entered, with EweWee bringing up the rear, they saw that the new restau­rant was packed, and the buffet line was long. While standing in the buffet line, Ewe Wee heard all kinds of comments about vegetables that made her scared about eating them.

"I love peas," said Peabody the peacock, "but I don't like carrots."

"I love carrots," said Carrie the caribou, "but I don't like peas."

"There's only one way to eat peas and carrots together, and that's by smothering them in horse­ radish," said Horst the horse.

"I don't want any peas and carrots, MaaMaa!" cried Ewe Wee.

"Don't listen to them, because they're just trying to pull the wool over your eyes," replied MaaMaa.

"Just hold your nose, and they'll go down easy," said Pee Ewe.

"Make sure you use two hooves on your nose," seconded Ewe Too.

The Ewe family went through the buffet line, and MaaMaa Ewe made sure the kids had peas and carrots on their plates before they took their seats at the dining table to start eating the evening fare of vegetables.

"Everyone who cleans their plates of peas and carrots gets to go in the dessert line," offered MaaMaa.

The older sisters, Pee Ewe and Ewe Too, were holding their noses. Ewe Wee was watching them when a commotion of pushing and shoving began in the buffet line, because someone had tried cutting in line. Everyone in the restaurant was turning heads to see what was happening. When the commotion was over, MaaMaa Ewe did a plate check and was pleased to see that everyone had finished their peas and carrots.

"Okay, kids, let's go get in the dessert line," said MaaMaa with a smile.

"Baa-daa-boom, baa-daa-bing! We love our ice cream!" sang the kids.

A month went by, and MaaMaa once again said, "Let's all go out for dinner!"

The Ewe family jumped in the mini-van and once again went to the all-you-can-eat veggie restau­rant. This time, Ewe Wee was the first sister to load up her plate with peas and carrots and was the first to finish them in record time, without holding her nose.

"What turned you around on eating peas and carrots?" asked Pee Ewe.

"The first time we were here, I was too scared to eat my peas and carrots, so I scooped them into my napkin and took them home, until I could come up with a way to enjoy eating them," said Ewe Wee.

"What did you come up with that makes them so easy to eat?" asked Ewe Too.

"I came up with a recipe called "Peaish-Carbob's", where I alternate sliding peas and carrots on a small skewer stick. Then I dunk'em in my favorite dipping sauce, and they go sliding down real easy. It's a ba-a-autiful combination!" said the chef Ewe Wee.

Gillmore the guppy was getting bored with having to go to swimming school along the coast, especially on a day when the sun was shining, the surf was splashing, and the water was sparkling clear.

Each day before school assembled, Percy the perch would be perched on his favorite rock, waiting for Gillmore the guppy to join up with him before leaving for school.

As Gillmore arrived that morning for school, Percy said, "It's such a beautiful morning. I wish something exciting would happen in school today."

"I agree!" said Gillmore. "All our class does is swim up and down the coast in the same spot everyday, and it's so boring!"

Lurking close by in the water was Finister the devilfish, who listened in on Percy's and Gillmore's conversation about wishing something exciting would happen today.

"Hey, you guys want to play hooky today?" offered Finister.

"What's hooky?" asked Gillmore.

"Playing hooky is fishtailing it over to the pier after skipping school, and then nibbling away at the free lunch the fishermen dangle from their lines without getting hooked," said the devilish Finister.

"That sounds like an exciting fishing expedi­tion to me," answered Gillmore.

"How about you, Percy?" prodded Finister.

"A free lunch sounds fishy to me, so I think I'm going to play it safe and stay in school," Percy replied.

"We're going to leave our backpacks next to your rock and pick them up later, after our free lunch," Finister and Gillmore said to Percy.

Percy got off his perch and swam off to class. When Wally the walleye swam by, Finister asked him to tell Miss Marlin the schoolteacher that he and Gillmore were sick and feeling like fish out of water and wouldn't be able to attend school today.

The plan to play hooky had now set sail, as Finister and Gillmore fishtailed over to the pier to get an exciting free lunch. Finister was the first one to begin nibbling away at the free lunch when a fish­erman quickly hooked him and reeled him in for a fish fry.

The next school day, as Gillmore arrived to join up with Percy for swimming school, he was looking as black as a sea bass. His scales were smoking, his lips were swollen shut, and he was feeling like a crappie.

"What happened to you?" asked Oly the mackerel.

"When Finister got hooked by the fisherman, I got so scared. I swam out to sea as fast as I could, but I got caught in a powerful undertow that took me miles and miles out into the deep blue sea. I got real lost, because I left my GPS unit in my backpack."

"How did you get so black?" asked Oly.

"When the undertow stopped, I looked around the deep blue sea and saw Oozy the octopus. I went up to him and started tapping his shoulder to ask him for directions, but he got startled and began inking me. That's how I got so black," said Gillmore.

"How did you get the smoking scales and the fat lips?" asked Wally.

"After swimming for awhile, I made it to the reef. That's when Electra the electric eel sprang out of her hiding place, shocking the scales out of me. To make matters worse, I asked Stingy the stingray, who was suntanning on the sand bar, for a ride home. Unfortunately, Stingy didn't recognize me and got so frightened by my looks that he stung me on the mouth. That's how I got two fat lips," stated Gillmore.

"So how did you get back to the coast?" Percy asked.

"A pilot fish happened to be flying by and offered me a ride over to the coast, which cost me my lunch money, and I ended up starving for lunch. It was the worst day of my life!" Gillmore sighed. "By the way, what did I miss in school?"

"It was the best day our class has ever had at school!" Percy said excitedly. "Miss Marlin the schoolteacher took our class on a field trip to the aquarium sea show. We went swimming with the aquarium stars and got to look at all the gawking people through the huge glass windows. It was a whale of a good time!"

"You also missed Goldie the goldfish strutting back and forth in front of the huge windows, fishing for compliments," laughed Oly.

"But the most exciting part of the day was getting the greatest free lunch in the world from all the people at the aquarium," said Percy.

"I should have stayed in school!" lamented Gillmore, the guppible one.