Cry Wolf by Paul Lake

Author:Paul Lake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BenBella Books
Published: 2019-07-11T19:39:24+00:00

Chapter 23

“It’s an outrage,” said Raymond. “They’ve taken away my roost. I’ve been replaced by a female raccoon of dubious reputation, and the whole henhouse is delirious with glee.”

“I know what you mean,” sighed Barlow. “My son Bronson is now hauling food buckets for the possums.

“You were right,” he said, turning to Shep. “It was a mistake letting so many wild animals on the farm. Now there’s no getting rid of them.”

“It’s no use chasing them down anymore,” Shep agreed. “Soon as I chase one off, he’s back again within hours. If there weren’t a single wild possum or raccoon on the farm, then we’d know what to do when we saw one. As it is, we can’t keep them out. The ones that are here hide their cousins and friends—or take them food in the woods till they can sneak in. It’s like trying to stop the stream from overflowing its banks.”

Shep scraped his paw through the dust of a raccoon’s paw print.

“I caught a ferret yesterday near the chicken coop,” he said quietly. “He ducked into a hole before I could catch him and came up a few feet away inside a tree stump, where I couldn’t dig him out. I called down and warned him to stay off the farm. I said the next time I saw him would be his last—and you know what he said?”

Shep looked up at Eudora with a furrowed brow.

“He said he’d been invited by the chickens to help with pest control. Said there were mice under the floor boards, and he’d been called in from the forest to do a job that we can’t.”

“He’s just telling tales,” replied Eudora, “because you had him cornered. The hens aren’t fools enough to invite a ferret into their house.”

“Ha!” exclaimed Raymond. “Try talking to Hetty about that. She says they’ve lost all sense and reason. They’re drunk on changing everything to suit their new hero, that blasted Miss Gray.

“Before you know it,” the rooster exclaimed, “she’ll be trying to crow the sun up. Let’s see her read the stars. Let’s see her tell when it’s planting time—or harvest. Thinks she can do my job, does she? Why, if she weren’t so big and didn’t have that set of monstrous teeth….”

“There’s no use moping,” said Gertrude, recalling how her eager young students were learning to appreciate the farm’s way of life.

“Things might not be exactly the way we’d like, but they are starting to settle down. It’s the novelty, that’s all—it’ll soon wear off. All the excitement of the new school, so much learning going on across the farm—it’s downright inspiring.

“Anyway,” she added hopefully, “it’s almost time for the fall pageant. The play will teach the newcomers about our heroic traditions, like defeating the bear and learning to run the farm. You’ll see. I’m so busy with the new teachers this year that I’ve appointed Olivia to run the show.

“I do love theatricals, though,” she muttered to herself, “so perhaps next season….

“I’ve taught her last year’s script, which was such a big hit, so I don’t see how it could fail.

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