(This is a continuation from the previous post.)

Horace opened his eyes.  Then he yawned, it was a very big yawn.  With an even bigger sigh, Horace shook his tiny, little ears and stamped his great big feet and then he looked around.

This gentle little creature looked around his new home.  He knew it was his home because his bed was right here, his favourite toy was right here, and it just smelled right. But there was something that wasn’t quite right.  Horace didn’t know what it was but he was going to find out.  And he was going to find out right now. With a mighty heave Horace lifted himself up from his very comfortable bed and started out to explore his new surroundings.

It had been a strange few days Horace thought.  He had had a very nice home for many years with a very nice hu-man and then everything had changed.  The hu-man had gone away and another one, a hu-woman had found him.  That hadn’t been pleasant.  Horace was just trying to say “hello” when the stranger had made a great many very loud noises that hurt his ears and then she had run away. She didn’t return but several other hu-mans did.  They weren’t mean to Horace and they didn’t try to hurt him but the whole situation was very unsettling.  If the truth were told Horace was quite scared.

Now he was back with his own stuff in a new home.  All the smells were the right smells but there was something very different going on here.  So with a shake of his head and a swish of his tail Horace started out on his great adventure.

The very first thing Horace found was a cherry.  Now it was a very nice cherry and it was sitting just where a cherry should be sitting if it was waiting for a rather hungry hippopotamus to find it.  Horace had been raised properly.  He had always been told never to be rude and he figured that it would have been rude if he had refused this very ripe gift so he ate it.

Well the first part of the adventure had gone very well.  Licking his rather large lips Horace continued on with his exploration. He could see several pieces of furniture but the light was quite low so he figured it was early morning.  Maybe it was so early the hu-man that lived here was still asleep. Horace felt he had learned a great deal about hu-mans because he had lived with one for so long.  He knew that they slept a lot, usually when it was dark but sometimes they put on artificial suns, lots of them, and stayed up after dark. It was quiet too.  Hu-mans seemed to make noise all the time.  It wasn’t usually as loud as the hu-woman had been but you can always tell when a hu-man is around.

Horace continued on with his adventure.  In one room he had a bit of a fright when he came upon another hippo that looked just like him!  After a few minutes of watching the other hippo mirror everything he did, Horace finally figured that was just what it was: a mirror.  He chuckled quietly to himself. “Nice looking hippo.” It was at this point that Horace became aware of an unusual noise.  It was sort of like a prrrrrrrrrrrrr noise.  Kind of soothing, it made Horace feel good to hear it but he didn’t know what made it.

If Horace had looked up, he would have seen two golden eyes staring at him.  Not too far from the golden eyes was a tail slowly twitching back-and-forth.  The sound he had heard was coming from this creature.  Very quietly a little meow was heard.  Now Horace did look up.

What he saw was a cat.  Horace had never seen a cat before. When someone is faced with something that strikes terror into their heart one of two things can happen.  First of all they can run.  But if they run they will never know what they are running from.  Second of all they can stand their ground and find out what is so scary.  He was scared but Horace stood his ground.

Now it is a fact that cats are not by nature evil creatures.  Rather they are curious creatures.  And that is exactly what this cat was.  She was curious about Horace.  Let’s look at this from her perspective:  Ally, for that was the name of the cat, had never seen a hippo before.  This strange little creature was walking around her house, looking in her mirror and generally breathing her air.   Of course he didn’t look scary, he looked, well, curious.    So she looked and she purred and she twitched her little tail.

Horace spoke first.  “Hello, my name is Horace.” With bated breath he waited to see what the cat had to say.  “Hello, my name is Ally.  Would you like to play with me?”

It was at that moment that Horace knew he had come home.  This was not the old place, but it was his home.

Join Horace on his next adventure:  THE CASE OF THE MISSING SHRUB.