Racing after Soma, Thunder was now completely out of breath. He panted through his mouth as he stopped short. Penelope and the three egrets landed on Thunder. Soma had finally slowed down her pace, but she was still moving ahead of them.
Thunder picked a branch of ripe, red berries with his trunk. Hurrying to catch up with her, he planted himself in front of her. He raised the branch in the air. “Here. These are for you for trying to help me.” He knew she must still be angry about flying through the air like that.
Soma quickly inhaled the entire branch until there was nothing left. “Mmmm.”
Cedric shook his head at her. “You could at least say thank you.”
“Yeah, Ms. Soma,” agreed Persius.
Soma burped. “Mmm, mm, mm.” Another loud burp followed. “Thanks. The berries were delish.”
Penelope looked at the berries on the bush off to the side. She leapt off Thunder’s back, fluttered over to a bush nearby, and lunged forward to grab one. In doing so, she fell into a hunter's bird trap.
“Parrot down. Parrot down.” Penelope tried to tip over the box with her beak. The box bounced around in the air, but she could not get out. Peeking through a small hole, she saw Thunder, Soma, and the egrets walking away. They were too far away to hear her now.
Thunder turned around and noticed that Penelope had disappeared from sight. “Penelope?”
The egrets who were now perched on top of Soma turned around. Cedric was the first to speak. “Hey, what happened?”
Persius shrugged his shoulders. “Where’d she go?”
Thunder darted here and there, looking up, down, and all around the trees. He too, disappeared from sight, but the others could still hear him. “Penelope! Penelope!!”
Soma started to help with the search. “Penelope?”
Sydney scratched her head with her wing tip. “Looks like she flew the coop!”
“I don’t know. Something happened.” Soma was always the naysayer of the group.
Thunder started to panic. “Penelope!!”
“Look, kid, she’s gone. Kaput,” Cedric said.
Sydney and Persius both jumped off Soma and hovered above them. In the distance, Persius saw what looked like the upright that Thunder had described earlier. Persius stopped mid-flight. “Uprights! Look! Over there!”
Sydney jumped back while up in the air, and she almost lost her flight in the process. “Aagghh! Let’s get outta here!!”
Soma shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve got my horn.”
“What about Penelope?” Thunder asked them.
“She’s nowhere to be found, Thunder,” Sydney answered.
“No matter now. We have to move on.” Soma warned them.
“She’s right. We can’t wait for her! Run!! Fly!!” Persius called.
Thunder shook his head sadly. “I hope she comes back. I want her to meet my mom.”
Thunder and Soma raced through the forest. The egrets grabbed a hold of Soma’s ears as they were being jostled hard on her back.
“Stoppppppp! I can barely hold on!” Cedric complained.
Thunder and Soma come to a halt. They had put quite a distance between themselves and the upright poacher in their mad dash through the forest.
“I think we’re safe now. Whew!” Sydney wiped sweat from her brow with her wing. All three of the egrets were shaken up. Their heads rotated as the dizziness cleared from them. When they tried to stand up, their legs were wobbly and they all fell over on top of each other. Kerplunk!
They decided to stay there for a moment to catch their breath. If they were lucky, maybe Penelope would fly back to them.
Meanwhile, in the small village, the occupants were gathered under a large open tent in the community meeting area. They were devastated that the fences had not kept the elephants out. Even though many had tried to get them to destroy the elephants in the past, there were still quite a few people determined that they could find another way to solve the problem without destroying the beautiful creatures.
Storm clouds rolled in overhead, blocking the sunlight from the sky. A bleak sign to those who were already feeling powerless. They had far too much rain lately.
One man stood at the front of the group, trying to get them to calm down, but the people were too upset to let him speak.
“We need more fences!” He called out to them.
“Yeah!” replied another.
“More barricades!!” shouted another voice.
“We must stop them at all costs!” This voice wanted more than walls to keep the creatures out. He wanted them dead.
“I agree! We must change the law!”
Loud chaos erupted as a light wind blew. The people continued to argue about their course of action. Chimes tingled absently.
The voices did not stop until a large gust of wind nearly blew the tent over. Lightning cracked across the sky and thunder erupted in a loud BOOM in the distance. All the heads turned to look up at the sky. Their arguments no longer mattered. The storm approaching was more urgent.
The storm clouds hovered and a brief silence followed before a sudden downpour breached the line of the clouds. The weather had turned ugly real fast. The villagers raced to their homes, dodging the large pelting drops along the way.
Imani was outside the shack playing with her puppy, Senji, when the storm first struck. Her dog was chasing an African striped squirrel across their plot of land.
“Senji! Senji! Come back!”
Imani started to follow Senji into the forest when the storm first broke out. She continued to chase him all way down to a nearby river bank. The rain poured harder than Imani had ever seen. Before long, the river was swelling before her.
As the storm surge continued, Imani called to Senji, “Here, Senji! Come!”
The dog was shivering on the spit in the middle of the river. Imani knew that if she did not act quickly, her dog would be swept up and away. Imani crossed to where he was and swept him up in her arms. When she turned around, she saw a large gush of water bursting closer to them.
The water level rose so high, that Imani and Senji were trapped on the spit. She knew that she could not across. “Help! Help! Papa! Help!!”
Imani looked out towards her family’s field. She snuggled into Senji’s fur and held him tight against her. They were both soaked to the bone. She was frightened, and all she wanted to do was go home, but it all looked so hopeless. Sitting down on the spit, she started to cry softly. How was she ever going to get home?