Sunlight streamed down from the sky and fell across Thunder’s face. He squinted his eyes against the glare. “Just a few more minutes,” he murmured. He wrapped his ears around his face in an attempt to shut it out. When that did not work, he stretched his trunk above him in a loud yawn. “Okay. I’m up, I’m up.”
Thunder stood up and shook his head. His ears flopped around him as he moved back and forth. Soma was snoring on the ground next to him. “No, no. Not more bats,” she grumbled in her sleep.
Thunder giggled at her. He used his trunk to retrieve a small branch from above his sleeping friend and tickled her near her ears. They twitched a few times and two white eyes rolled to glare at him. “What do you want, Thunder?”
“Good morning to you too, Soma. Here’s some breakfast.” He lowered the branch of berries down to her and stepped back. Turning away, he found his own branches and started to munch away at the red berries.
Penelope stretched on the tree branch above them. “Wake up. Cock-a-doodle-doo.” Then the parrot imitated an alarm clock. “Aa-aah-aaah-aah!”
The egrets who were perched near her were grumbling. Cedric snapped a twig from the tree and hurled it at the parrot. It hit her and knocked her out of the tree. She was so caught off guard she landed on her head. Sitting up, she rubbed her wing tip over a small bump that was forming. “Ding! Put a fork in her. Done deal! Rahhh!”
Thunder fell over he was laughing so hard. His front legs covered his belly as loud snuffled laughs flew from his mouth. After the past few days, he had certainly needed that. This realization sobered him. He stood back up, and cleared his throat. “We need to go soon. We’re going to find my mom today.”
Soma pursed her lips together. “If you say so.”
“I do. She’s out there, Soma. I know she is.” Thunder refused to let negative thoughts take over.
“Right.” Soma agreed begrudgingly. She could easily tell the elephant what she thought might have happened, but what right did she have to take his hope away? For her, hope simply did not exist.
“All right. Up and at ‘em. I think we should go this way.” Thunder pointed his trunk past the cave, to a small worn path. He wasn’t sure where it would lead them, but he was ready to start their journey.
“Fine.” Soma took one last berry from her branch.
The group traveled in silence. The egrets were seated atop Soma, as usual. Persius was still rubbing sleep from his eyes. Sydney was leaning up against Cedric, her eyes flitted open and closed. Thunder led them up the path that soon went downhill. They traveled slowly down the winding path that was covered with large plants and tall trees that were starting to thin out as they approached the bottom.
A large wall of vines blocked their view. Soma moved over to part them. What they saw before them was so beautiful, they were all shocked. A beach filled with bright white sand was shimmering in the sunlight. Large frothy white waves were breaking at the shoreline.
“What is that?” Thunder asked, his voice filled with amazement.
“The ocean,” answered Soma.
Sydney whistled. “That’s something.”
“Yeah,” agreed Persius.
Penelope landed on Thunder’s head and made binoculars over her eyes with her wings. “Ding! Dong! Who’s there?”
“Huh?” Thunder squinted his eyes trying to see what Penelope was talking about. “I don’t see anything.
A small sound filtered to Thunder’s ears. “What is that?” His ears rose next to his head and he tried to take in the sounds that were much farther away. He heard distant music somewhere down the beach. The others looked at him like he had lost his mind, but Thunder did not care. He moved toward the sound of the music.
“Where is he going?” Cedric wondered.
“I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out.” Soma trailed after him.
Two frogs jumped on top of a large drum that had washed up on the beach. They took turns bouncing up and down creating a beat that was almost catchy.
A large sea turtle lay next to them. He was blowing into a log that had been carved into a long horn. The short puffs accentuated the base the frogs were providing. The light over his back shone over the small ridges that were indented across his blue leathery shell.
Four egrets, much like Thunder’s own travel companions, were playing on large peach colored conch shells. The flute-like sounds coming from them were light and carefree. Their feet switched back and forth as they danced along with the music their instruments created.
A long-tailed pangolin was shaking a long stick beside the egrets. His body was covered in small scales that were shaped like tiny artichoke hearts, they continued into his long tail that curled up behind him. His underbelly was covered with dark fur. The stick made a shaking sound, like water falling on a roof top. Every once in a while, he would lick an ant that tried to escape from the top with his long pink tongue.
The closer they got to the group of animals, Thunder could feel the music with every inch of his skin. His tail swished in happy rhythm and his trunk swayed in the air. Even Soma’s stern look could not keep him down. His ears waved around him and Thunder danced across the beach to a line of hippos who were dancing joyfully around.
The hippos now circled around him. They were dancing on two legs, with their long skirts fashioned from green grass swaying around them. Large pink flowers were pushed behind their ears. Thunder fell into step behind one of them, as they started a conga line around the beach.
Cedric’s eyes were wide as he watched Thunder cutting a rug with the hippos. “Would you look at that?”
“That’s not something you see every day,” added Persius.
“You can say that again,” agreed Sydney.
“What in the world?” Soma was looking at the ocean. A hippo was out in the water and appeared to be surfing on the waves.
The music stopped and the hippos rushed to the water’s edge. “Riley!” they cried.
Thunder walked to where the hippos were wading. “Who’s that?”
“Our surf guru, of course,” answered the hippo to his left.
Thunder could not help but wonder what a surf guru was. He moved out of the way, as Riley came sliding onto the beach next to him.
“Hello, little man,” Riley greeted him with gusto.
“Hi! I’m Thunder.” Thunder was caught up in the happy chaos around him. His herd would never believe it when he told them about the surfing hippos.
“Well, hello, Thunder. I’m Riley. Care to take a turn?” The hippo nodded to the water behind him.
“Can I?” Thunder followed after him. He had never been in the ocean before. His little legs fell out from under him when the first big wave hit his skin. His body toppled over and he landed in a heap on the sandy bottom. When the tide moved back, he gave Soma a goofy grin as he sat there. He ignored her shaking head and turned around to follow Riley into the next wave.
Thunder let his trunk run across the water. The frothy waves tickled him and he giggled. Leaping over small waves of water, he splashed around happily. Jumping in further, he dove all the way in. Swimming out to where Riley was floating, Thunder was happier than he had been in days. He had always loved the water and this water was so easy to float in.
Thunder surfed the first wave with Riley and was surprised at how quickly the wave’s momentum pushed his body through the water. He had already swum back and was ready to catch another wave when he saw a dark shadow beneath him. A big animal was sleeping soundly beneath the surface, with two rounded flippers crossed over its belly. It caught Thunder so off guard that he tumbled when the wave pushed him into the surf.
“What was that?”
“What?”
“That!” Thunder pointed at the dark shape in the water with his trunk.
Penelope called from above, “Shark attack! Big teeth! Chomp, chomp!”
Riley shook his head at the silly bird. “That’s no shark. That’s Manny.”
“What’s a Manny?” Thunder looked at him in confusion.
“Not what, who, little man. Follow along now. That’s my buddy Manny. He’s a manatee.”
“Manny Manatee,” Penelope repeated in her singsong voice.
At that moment, Manny chose to surface in the water. “Good morning, Riley.” His voice was deep and rough from sleep.
“Daylight’s a wastin’, Manny. About time you showed your mug up here. Waves are crashing, man.” Riley gestured to the water around them.
“Gnarly.” Manny turned over on his back and let the waves wash over his belly. He continued to ride the wave further down to the beach. When he got there, he flipped over and dove deeper into the water.
Thunder scanned the area around him, wondering where the large manatee had gone to. When he saw a dark shape moving slowly toward him, this time he did not panic. “Look! There he is!”
Manny rose up and spouted water from his pudgy lips. It landed right between Thunder’s eyes. “Bullseye!”
“Hey!” Thunder turned to him and shook his trunk. “This is war!”
Thunder sucked up the salty water into his trunk and blasted Manny with full force. The manatee stretched his neck and let the water fall all over him. “Oh yeah! Right there.” He shrugged his shoulders as if he were satisfying an itch.
“You’re silly!” Thunder giggled at him.
“Silly’s a state of mind, my friend. A happy state.” Manny turned and saw a large wave breaking in the distance and a floating mountain. He pointed it out to Thunder. “Disgustin’”
As soon as Manny pointed out the floating mountain, Thunder heard a sound as loud as ten elephants trumpeting together. He saw uprights throw things from the mountain into the water. “Wow, what is that?”
“The uprights toss things they don’t want into our waters,” Manny said. “Some of it washes up on our shores, and some of it makes us sick.”
“Wow, that’s not good,” Thunder said sadly.
“You are so right, my friend.” Manny rolled over and let his belly face the sun. He caught Penelope’s attention from above.
She squawked, “Catch a wave! Surf’s up.”
Penelope dove down to the manatee and landed on his belly. She lifted her wings up and bobbed her head from side to side as she maintained her balance. “Hang ten! Cowabunga!”
Thunder watched his friend and smiled. “Wow, Penelope. You’re good!”
Penelope leapt off of the manatee before the ocean waves crashed over him. She still managed to get soaked in the process. Tumbling through the air, she landed on the beach with a thud. Shaking the water out of her ears, she quipped, “Land ahoy! No place like home. Rahhhh!”
Thunder and Riley both exited the water behind her. Manny stayed in the water. “Time for some breakfast. I’ll check you later, Riley.”
“I think you mean lunch, Manny, but yeah, I’ll see you later, dude.” Riley shook his head at the departing manatee. Turning to Thunder he said, “So little man, what brings you here to my little paradise?”
This was the first time the hippo was really addressing him and Thunder felt the eyes of all the hippos turn to him. “I’m looking for my mother.”
“Your mother?” Riley looked at him with concern. “Did she swim off, bruh?”
“No. The uprights came and captured our herd. I got away and I’ve been trying to find her ever since. My friends are helping.”
Riley shook his head. “That’s a sad story indeed. That reminds me of another one.”
Soma snorted near them. “Great. Here we go.”
“Have you ever heard of the Great Tusker in the sky?”
Thunder looked at Riley in confusion. “No.”
“Oh, you have much to learn, little man. There is an elephant in the sky who watches over us all. He is the Great Tusker. For centuries the Great Tusker watched as man and animal lived side by side. There was a balance among them, but man grew apart from the land. He became greedy, wanting to build up a world that was separate from the wild. In doing so, he interrupted the great balance. Man took from the earth, from the bounty of the land and treasures from our kind. He became obsessed with material possessions.”
Thunder was paying close attention to what he said. “That’s horrible.”
“It is, but the legend says that man can walk with the beast again. He just needs to be reminded of the way things used to be. When he does, the Great Tusker will smile down on us again.”
“Wow. That’s a stretch,” Soma muttered. “Great Tusker, bah! I’ll believe that when I see it.” The egrets on her back were nodding their heads in agreement.
“Oh, quiet you!” Thunder shushed her. He was still young enough that he believed that magic could exist.
“Don’t worry, little man. He does exist.” Riley’s eyes twinkled in the sunlight.
“I hope I get to see him someday.”
“You may at that,” answered Riley.
“Thunder, we should keep moving if you want to find your mother,” Soma interjected into the moment.
“Right.” Thunder knew Soma was right. He should not have spent his morning on such foolish antics, but he just couldn’t help it. “Thank you for the story, Riley. We do need to go.”
Thunder and the rest of the group started to make their way across the beach, when Riley called across to them. “Wait, little man. I saw a farm not far from here where there were many uprights. If the uprights took them, you might find them there.”
A huge smile broke across Thunder’s face. “Really? Oh, thank you!”
“You’re welcome.” Riley turned away from them and led the other hippos into the ocean to continue their morning surf lessons.
“You heard him. Let’s go find that farm!” Thunder led the others down the beach. His head was filled with hope that would never fade. With a lighter step, he did not even let Soma’s grumpy face kill his joy as they continued to move on.