Читать книгу The Fallen Star - Tracey Hecht - Страница 10
ОглавлениеDawn gently moved Tobin aside. Then she turned to Bismark and studied him with a steady gaze. The moment seemed to last for ages, but finally, she relaxed. Bismark’s chest was rising and falling, ever so slightly. The movement was nearly invisible to most, but not to the fox’s keen eyesight.
“He’s alive,” she sighed as she relaxed onto her rear haunches. She looked at the bare pomelo tree branches overhead. “It’s a long drop from up there, but his flaps likely softened his fall.”
Tobin eagerly leaned in close to his friend, trying to detect the glider’s breathing for himself.
Suddenly, Bismark’s eyelids fluttered. “Ah, mi bella Dawn, is that you?” he mumbled. “Your voice is moonlit music to my tired ears. Come, my sweet señorita, lean in, let our hearts beat as one.” He puckered his small lips for a kiss.
“Oh goodness, Bismark!” said Tobin, quickly pulling away.
The sugar glider’s eyes shot open. “Ack! Amigo, is that you?” Bismark leaped to his feet with sudden, renewed strength and frantically wiped his mouth with his flaps. “Irresistible as I may be, mon ami, you must learn to control yourself! Tame those emotions! Dawn is the one I love! He dusted himself off and stood up tall.
“Oh Bismark, you’re all right!” Tobin exclaimed, enjoying his friend’s familiar banter.
The sugar glider paused. He stared at the piles of sticks, rocks, and ruin. Pomelos from his tree lay scattered all about: bruised orbs of greenish-gold against piles of brown dirt and rubble.
“Uno momento! Not so fast! I may look all right, but I most certainly am not!” Bismark exclaimed. “Look at what has become of the bounty of my tree!” He lifted a smushed pomelo in his paw.
“Oh, Bismark, don’t worry!” Tobin foraged about frantically and finally located a single, unharmed fruit. “They’re not all bad. And we’re lucky the shooting star didn’t land right on top of us!”
“Yes, we were lucky.…” Dawn said, voice trailing off. The falling star hit the valley the night before—that much was clear. But if Bismark’s entire tree had lost all its fruit here, how bad was the damage elsewhere?
“Others might not have been as fortunate as we were,” she said. “We must find the star at once and see if anyone has been hurt.”
“Mon dieu, that’s right! The fallen star!” Bismark’s gaze shot upward to the dark sky above as he remembered the incidents of the previous night. The moon reflected in his bulbous brown eyes, and he rubbed his paws together. “Mi amore, our very own piece of the heavens has descended. Now it is waiting in the forest for us to claim it!”
The sugar glider scurried to the fox. “Don’t you realize what this means?” he continued. “The night sky has sent us a symbol of our love! Haven’t I always told you I’d bring you the moon, the stars, the heavens? Yes, we must brave this destruction and go find it at once. But first—”
The glider put one finger up to signal his friends to wait. Then he scurried to a hollow in the trunk of his tree. There, he retrieved a midnight-blue snakeskin cape and tied it around his neck. “This calls for the Nocturnal Brigade!”
In the night world of the valley, the Nocturnal Brigade was the name that the three friends were known by. Bold in adventure and brave in challenge, they came to the rescue of creatures in danger or in need of their help.
Bismark gestured toward Dawn and Tobin and urged them to follow. “Come on, amigos, we cannot venture forth without our proper attire!”
Tobin gathered his cape and Dawn’s as well. He grinned as he secured his around his neck.
“The Nocturnal Brigade is back at it!” Bismark exclaimed, stretching an arm toward the fox. “Shall we, mon amour?”
Dawn draped her cape around her neck. “Yes, we must go see if anyone needs our help.” The fox took one final glance at the fallen trees and split branches around them. “I hope we’re not too late.”
