Ebby
A short story by
Ebby is a year old tomorrow and he is excited about that. He will then be able to run with the other young joeys in his group that live in the hills and plains of
The men have sticks that they point at the roo’s and then make a big noise and the roos fall down and the men take them and eat them just like the Dingo’s do. Ebby wonders if these two creatures are the same being in different shapes. He also wonders how anyone could hurt his family because his family is just happy and friendly. There have been many rumors from other families that some of the men have been capturing their members and taking them away in big things and are never seen again. But Ebby does not worry about such things because he is just a little Roo, but he hears the discussions from his soon to be abandoned pouch on his mother’s belly. He barely fits in there now but he still likes to crawl in because it is warm and comfortable and when the day gets very hot he hides from the sun in there. As a matter of fact he is a little sleepy right now so he turns around to where his mother is standing and puts his little head inside the pouch and crawls in. There is barely enough room for him to turn around in here anymore but he struggles a little and eventually is able to poke his head out. With his eyes closed he rests his head against his mother’s fur and nods off to sleep.
Ebby is startled awake by his mother jumping from her grazing position to a full run. She does this in one movement and is running at full speed in just a few bounds. Ebby peeks out of her pouch to see what is happening, but he can only see the grass going by in a blur. His mother can run at full speed at about 25 miles per hour for a couple of miles. The fact that she is running at this speed tells Ebby that there is trouble so he holds on and will be ready to jump to a hiding spot if she stops for him to do that. As he looks out he can see others in his family running too and is worried that there are the wild dogs chasing them. He is worried for his grandfather who cannot run as fast as he once could and might be caught.
All of a sudden his mother goes down. Has she tripped on something? Does a dog have her? He is afraid and does not know what to do. He is supposed to stay in her pouch until told to come out. But what if his mother is injured? Where are the others? As he peeks out of her pouch once again he sees that she is being dragged by something. She is lying down on her side but she is moving along the ground. This makes no sense to Ebby and he is getting more and more frightened each moment.
He can see something that looks like brown grass that is in squares and can see that his mother is caught in this grass. There is an opening in the grass squares right where the opening to his pouch is and he decides that he can get out and go to find his father to help. With all of his strength he pushes himself out of the pouch and through the opening in the grass squares and falls onto the ground. As he looks up he sees; MEN! Ebby is terrified; he has never seen men before he has only heard the adults talk about them. They are as big as his father and they have long arms but very small legs and feet.
Ebby bounds to his feet and begins to bound away only to see more men coming after him. He changes directions and runs faster. Then he sees a big thing in front of him and he cannot go over it. He stops and turns around only to be confronted by one of the men who try to grab him. He pushes with all of his strength and with the power of fear included he jumps over the man who just about grabs his leg as he does but he makes it. Then other men come in from both sides and he only has one small opening to try for. So once again he uses his strength and fear to scoot through the opening. Then another big thing is in front of him but he can get over this one because it is not as big. Ebby lands on the top of the thing and can see that it has a hard top on it and then he bounds down off of it on the other side and can see that inside this thing is a Kangaroo. This roo is not one he knows but he can see that he is trying to get out of the thing. Then one of the men comes around the end of the thing and Ebby bounds off into the grass. Ebby is amazed that these men cannot run very fast. He wonders how they were able to catch his mother when they cannot run fast because Ebby cannot run nearly as fast as his mother.
After running a short distance Ebby stops and turns to watch what is happening. He can see several of the big things that he could not get around and they are moving. They must be some kind of big animal and they make a growling sound as they move. He can see the men pick up the square grass thing that his mother is caught in and put it into one of the smaller things like the one the other roo was trying to get out of. Then he sees his father in another one of the smaller things and it is on one of the big things. It is like they are caught behind sticks in the forest and the hard top makes it hard to jump out. This is all very confusing to Ebby and he knows that he must help his mother and father or he will never see them again. Then the men pick up the thing that his mother is in and put it on the big thing next to where his father is. As he watches he can see his father reach out his hand to touch his mother and he knows that he is comforting her. He can hear her crying and she is touching her pouch. She has lost Ebby and she is sad.
The men all get into the big things and the big things with the little things with him mother and father in them all start to move across the grass plain. Ebby looks around for other roos but cannot see any. They must have all run away. It is then that this little Joey Roo named Ebby decides that he must get his mother and father out of those things. So instead of running away he begins to hop toward the big things that are moving across the plain.
The moon has gone below the hills now and so it is completely dark. The big things have stopped moving and their eyes are shining in the dark making them very easy for Ebby to see. Ebby is a nocturnal feeding animal as are all Kangaroos so his eyes work very well even with no moon to light the way. This apparently is not true for the men because they carry light things to show the way in the dark.
Ebby watches as the men move first to one of the small things that are holding his mother and father and the other kangaroos. They are bringing water and bundles of grass for them to eat. Ebby notices that the men open the things so that they can put the water and grass in. He also watches as his mother move to the back of the thing when the men open it. She must be very frightened. Ebby thinks that if he could push the man down somehow that his mother could get out. After the men put the water and grass into the things they close it again so that his mother is once again trapped. Ebby is very sad and afraid for his mother and father. He has no idea what the men are going to do to them. He must help them to get free.
The men have put up big brown things like rocks and have gone inside them and all the lights have gone out. Ebby waits and waits but nothing more happens. He decides to go down to see what he can do to get his mother and father out of the things. He hops to the big thing where his mother is and he is afraid. His heart pounds very loudly and he is afraid that the men might hear and come to capture him as well, but none do. He bounds up onto the big thing and then moves over to where his mother is. She is very happy to see him but tells him to run away so the men can’t catch him. Ebby tries to push the sticks away that are keeping her in but they are very strong and do not move at all. He moves over to where his father is and tries it but the same result. He hears his father tell him to run away and save himself. Ebby wants very much to help but he cannot see how he can, so he hops back over to where his mother is and lays down to wait to see what happens.
As the sun starts to rise he hears a sound like the men barking and he jumps down off of the big thing and runs into the grass to hide. He watches as the men do many strange things and then watch them get into the big things again and they begin to growl and then move off. Ebby again follows them and wonders what he can do.
Ebby is getting very tired. He has followed the big things all day and they have only stopped once. He is used to riding in his mothers pouch and not used to so much hopping on his own. But he is strong and healthy so he has been able to keep up with the slow moving big things that the men are in. As the sun gets low in the sky the men stop once again and Ebby knows that this is the time to do something. He must free his mother and father, he must!
Ebby remembers that the men open the things to put in the water and notices that one of the men has a water thing. Ebby hops to the edge of the high grass and waits for the men to get up on the big thing to give his mother water. When the men do that Ebby hops up with the man and as the big thing is opened he uses his legs to kick the man down. He tells his mother to run and she quickly comes out of the thing and hops down to the ground and begins to run to the high grass. The man has fallen into the thing that his father is in and it opens when the man hits it and his father jumps out. The man reaches out and grabs Ebby’s leg and holds on and makes a loud sound. Ebby can hear the men coming and is trying to get away but the man has a tight grip on him and will not let go. Then Ebby’s father kicks the man and the man falls off of the big thing but he still has a hold on Ebby’s leg and Ebby falls off with him. When they hit the ground the man lets go of Ebby and he is able to hop out of his reach. Then there are other men around them and one is trying to grab Ebby but he remembers that the men cannot run very fast so he hops over one of the men and runs to the tall grass that his mother ran into.
No men are chasing him so Ebby turns around to watch to see where his father is and sees that there are men all around him. One of the men has a bunch of the square grass things and throws it at his father but it misses as his father hops out of the way. When he does this one of the men tries to grab his father but cannot hold on. Ebby’s father is very strong and kicks the man with his very powerful legs and the man falls back into another man and that leaves room for Ebby’s father to hop through them and then into the high grass. The men start to run after him but one of the men makes a loud sound and the men stop.
When Ebby’s father reaches where him he tells Ebby to follow him and they hop further into the high grass and are joined by Ebby’s mother. Then they all hop further away from the men and their big things. Once on a high place they turn around and watch the men who are going from one thing to another giving water and grass bundles to the other kangaroos and are turning on their light sticks because the men cannot see in the dark.
Ebby turns to his mother and climbs once again into her pouch and turns around to look out. His mother and father start to hop back toward their home land and Ebby, who is very tired now, closes his eyes and goes to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment