Today, after a rousing game of throw the stuffed- hedgehog-into-the-air-and-try-to-kill-it-before- it-hits-the-floor, I felt myself fighting sleep, which was no fun because I really didn't want to go to sleep. I tried keeping my head up, but I kept nodding off. One time, I actually bopped my nose on the floor--That woke me up for a minute, but then I began to nod off again. During that half-sleep stage when you don't know if you are awake or asleep, I had the most bizarre day-dream. It was about a secret organization of animals trying to save humans from destruction. It began with a family of hedgehogs (of course),
and it went something like this .....................
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Herbert was a young hedgehog who had been orphaned after a dog killed his mother. He was
raised by a family of gardeners in England. His real name was Herbert, but the family's youngest boy, Sammy, couldn't say Herbert, or any other name with an "H" in it, so he called him Piggy, instead. The new name stuck. Now, everyone called him Piggy. One afternoon, Sammy took Herbert into the back yard for a little fresh air. Piggy was really sleepy, being a nocturnal animal and all, so he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a huge hawk swooped down, grabbed him by his quills, and flew off with him. Sammy started screaming and crying and his Mummy went running outside, but there was nothing anyone could do. Piggy was whisked away in a matter of seconds.---------------------------------------------------------------------
Piggy was sure he was about to die, so he just closed his eyes and waited. However, in a few minutes, the hawk landed on a branch and Piggy dared to open his eyes again. What he saw amazed him. First of all, he had been gently placed next to 3 other hedgehogs close to his own age. But the most remarkable thing was that they were surrounded by all sorts of other animals, all high up in a huge tree. There were many animals that should normally be wanting to eat one another, but here they were, assembled as if they were about to have an important meeting. The large, somber-looking owl sitting on the highest branch appeared to be ready to address the entire assembly.
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"Good afternoon, citizens and guests. Welcome to this emergency meeting of the Animal Air Reserves. I will make this brief, since owls, I remind you, are NOT used to being up and about during the day. As you know, a national crisis is occurring, and the humans are in grave danger. Fortunately, they still have no idea what is going on. Because of the urgency of this crisis, it has become necessary for the Reserves to be called into action. We have four new weapons-recruits who need to be assigned to a partner. I need four unpaired hawks from our heavyweight group to volunteer. Please step forward. Golda, the colonel in charge of armaments, will see to your training." To Piggy's surprise, Golda, a huge golden eagle, turned to him and the other four hedgehogs and told them to follow her to the middle of a large branch. Her harsh eyes softened slightly as she reassured them that they would be perfectly safe. With that, four large Harris hawks swooped down, one at a time, from a higher branch, each grasping one hedgehog gently between his talons and soaring away.
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Then, when I was just about to find out where they were going and why, some noise outside woke me from my day-dream. Darn! I promise to keep writing if any more of the story comes to me.
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