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A Tail of Friendship

Long ago the wild was a very different place to what it is now.  All the animals lived peacefully in the same habitat. Nobody was afraid of being hunted and they all enjoyed a delicious diet of fruit and vegetables.

Mostly, things were uneventful, so the animals used their talents to keep themselves entertained. Even way back then, each animal had its distinct skills.  Well, almost all the animals…

Chelsea the Cheetah felt that she didn’t really fit in.  All the other cheetahs were very fast and enjoyed sprinting and racing each other.  Chelsea, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy running at all.  In fact, she struggled to run and always dreaded the days when it was time to race the other cheetah cubs to see who had gotten faster.  Sadly for her, today was a day when they wanted to show off their speed.

The young cheetahs stood at the starting line, ready and eager to pounce off to see who would be the fastest to get to the other end of the grassland.  Chelsea stood there nervously with butterflies in her stomach. Her heart was racing. “If only my legs could move as fast as my heart is beating now,” she thought to herself. She couldn’t wait for it all to be over.

Her friends, Wilbur the Warthog and Eliza the Elephant stood on the edge of the open grassy area and watched anxiously.  They knew what she must be going through and were there to support her, no matter what happened.  She was so grateful for that. 

As the cheetahs were bustling on the starting line some very dark clouds started to gather on the horizon.  A slight grumble came from the gloomy band of clouds and this was enough to spur the cheetahs to get the race on the go before the storm came.

“Get set!” shouted the starter. “And…GO!”

Without hesitation, they exploded off in the direction of the finish line.  Within seconds they were half way through the long grass. All of them, except Chelsea. She was breathing so heavily that it hurt. No matter how hard she tried, her legs wouldn’t carry her any further. When she got to the thickest part of the grass the exhausted cheetah ducked to the left and snuck out of the race. Panting heftily and trying desperately to stay on her feet, she looked up to see her two best friends coming quickly towards her.

“Don’t worry Chelsea,” Wilbur tried to soothe her. “It can happen to anyone.”

“Yes,” added Eliza. “Forget about it.  Let’s go and have some fun before the rain comes.”

“But I feel so ashamed. I’m supposed to be able to run. I’m a cheetah, after all,” mumbled Chelsea. “What am I going to do?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes.

“We’ll make a plan,” Eliza said gently and rubbed the tip of her trunk between Chelsea’s ears.

“I know,” Wilbur bubbled with enthusiasm.  “We’ll train you!  I’ll run with you and you can chase my tail.  It’s easy enough to see when it sticks up straight like it does.”

“That’s true.” Chelsea chuckled as she thought about Wilbur’s characteristic warthog tail.  She was so happy to be with her friends and have their help.  She knew things would get better. “Thanks you guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Only a pleasure, my friend.  It’s great to see the sparkle back in your eyes. Wilbur’s tail always does the trick, doesn’t it?” Eliza said as she gave Wilbur a friendly nudge. With that they all had a very hearty laugh, especially Chelsea as she imagined chasing Wilbur’s tail through the grass. It really is an unusual looking tail when it shoots up straight into the air.

Now that Chelsea had caught her breath and was feeling better, the trio headed down to the river for a drink.  In the distance, the clouds were getting much heavier and the air was starting to get damp. They could feel the wet weather was on its way.

“It looks like it’s going to be a real downpour,” Eliza noted as they approached the river’s edge. The other two nodded in agreement.

As they walked into the shallow water for a drink, Eliza got a very sneaky look on her face. At first she sipped some water with her trunk so that it looked like she was drinking and then she took a few huge slurps, sucking up as much water as she could. Slowly and quietly she lifted her trunk and then with an enormous effort she sprayed it all over her shorter friends.

Suddenly there were squeals of laughter and the three friends were soon rough-and-tumbling in the river. Wilbur turned around and kicked as hard as he could with his back legs to make a massive splash and Chelsea jumped up and dive-bombed into the water making huge waves. Eliza realised that she had a big advantage with her size and ended up spraying water a little more gently from her trunk.  In no time though, they were sopping wet and having lots of fun playing in the water.

Out of the blue Wilbur splurted: “Hey! Cheetahs aren’t supposed to like water so much!  You’re a cat and cats stay away from water.”

“Well, not this one,” laughed Eliza as she picked up Chelsea with her trunk and threw her into the river.

“You’re right though Wilbur,” said Chelsea. “I really don’t mind the water.”

“Fancy that,” the warthog snorted in jest. “You have a special talent after all,” he said teasing his friend.

The three friends burst out laughing again but they all knew that Wilbur had made a very important observation. Just then, it started to rain.  At first there were only a few splats of water but soon the rain was coming down in hard, straight lines and they could hardly see more than a few metres in front of them.

Huddling together, they moved out of the river and stood there watching the rain come tumbling down. As it rained more and more, the river started to rise.  It wasn’t long before all the animals came to see what was happening. Soon, the river was higher than they had ever seen it before.  It was amazing. Waves lapped against the edge and the river gushed downstream at a tremendous pace.

The animals were mesmerised by what they saw.  Nobody moved.  All you could hear was the rain hitting the water. As Wilbur stood there staring at the river like everyone else, he suddenly felt the ground below him slipping away.  The raging river must have made the ground where he was standing unstable. The loose muddy patch he was now hovering on started crumbling and then collapsed. Next thing, he was tumbling into the river. Oh no! He tried to scramble out but he couldn’t.  The current picked him up and seconds later he ended up in the middle of the river.

Eliza and Chelsea got such a fright.  What were they going to do?  They needed to save their friend.  Chelsea followed her gut sense and jumped into the water.  She had never been in such deep water before but she wasn’t frightened.  She focussed on where Wilbur was and before she knew it she was swimming towards him.

“Help me!” cried Wilbur as he headed downstream. Eliza shouted from the side as she ran next to the river. “Chelsea’s coming.  Hang in there.”

Wilbur was getting tired and struggled to keep his head above the water. Chelsea swam with all her might but as she got closer, Wilbur dropped under the water and out of sight. She tried to swim faster but she couldn’t see him.  “Where is he?” Chelsea cried out.

“Look for his tail!” Eliza called back.  Sure enough, just then, Wilbur’s tail bobbed up in front of Chelsea.  She immediately dived down under the water and wrapped her front paws around her friend’s tummy. She had to be careful not to hurt him with her claws but she also wanted to make sure that he didn’t come loose from her grip. With all her power, Chelsea pulled herself and Wilbur to the water’s surface.

She gasped for air for a second but placed all her focus on her friend. Was he going to be alright? For an instant Wilbur just lay there, but then he spluttered, “Those claws of yours tickle a little...”

Chelsea had forgotten that she was holding him in such a tight grip but she was overjoyed to see that her friend was almost being his normal self.  “I think he’s ok,” Chelsea shouted with delight as she swam towards the water’s edge. “Thanks to you,” Wilbur replied gently.

Chelsea kept swimming and had to fight against the rushing water but she was so happy that she didn’t even feel tired. When they got to the edge of the river Eliza stretched out her trunk and wrapped it around Wilbur so that Chelsea could get out with the help of some of the other animals. Eliza held on tightly to Wilbur and gently placed him on the ground away from the river. He was exhausted and lay there with his tail sopping wet and sagging towards the ground.

As everyone gathered around to see what was happening, the rain lifted and the sky started to open up, letting through some light and warmth. Wilbur got up onto his feet slowly.  He was a little wobbly but gave one giant shake to try and get rid of the remaining water.  As he did that his tail shot up straight into the air.

“Make way,” he puffed softly. “I want to give my friends a huge big hug.” Chelsea and Eliza were thrilled to have their friend back on firm land and cuddled him up in their arms. All the animals cheered as the three friends embraced.

“That tail of yours will always be one of my favourite things to see,” Chelsea told her friend. Eliza agreed. 

Then the warthog and the elephant turned to Chelsea and Eliza said, “You were amazing! You have done what no other cheetah could dream of.  You should be very proud of yourself Chelsea – we certainly are.”

And then Wilbur added, “I am so grateful that you saved my life but I also think you should take up swimming – you’ve discovered a real talent!” Wilbur always did have a way of making things look brighter and all three of them roared with laughter.

“I think I may just do that,” Chelsea finally managed to say between her giggles. “But I’ve had enough of water for today. Let’s rather go do something away from the river.”

And with that, Chelsea, Wilbur and Eliza headed back to the long grass…the three happiest best friends in the wild.