Gus and the Invisible Friend by Caryl Z. Sweet

Author:Caryl Z. Sweet [Sweet, Caryl Z.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781524689735
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2017-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

Gus Was Sitting in the Car Seat, But Callie Was Nowhere to be Found

24

Toby

About that time a rather large turtle came up to the fence.

“I say, you gentlemen haven’t by any chance seen a snowy egret around here have you?”

“What’s a snowy egret?” said Gus.

“It’s that bird that wades in the water around here looking for tiny fish and crabs. He is all white with a black beak, long black legs and yellow feet and his name is Dwayne.“

“We haven’t seen a bird like that.”

“Dwayne and I protect the pond critters from Ada Mae, our resident alligator. I’m worried because the weather is getting warmer and Ada Mae could be out of hibernation any time now. She is always hungry this time of year and she may have grabbed Dwayne. She’s not a bad sort, but when she is hungry she doesn’t much care who she eats. You can tell her not to eat your friends, but she just doesn’t get it.”

“Aren’t you afraid she might eat you?” said Callie.

“Oh no. I’ve known her since she was no longer than your tail. I was a lot bigger than she was back then, but now she’s a lot bigger than I am. She knows my shell is hard and I’m too big for her to eat in only one bite. Besides, she has known me all her life and she is used to seeing me near the pond. We take to visiting sometimes when we are basking in the sun, but mostly she ignores me. It’s the other animals I worry about. Dwayne and I created a security system to protect them. When Ada Mae wakes up, or when I see her hiding under the water looking hungry, I tell Dwayne and he warns everyone by making a loud squawk. When the animals hear Dwayne squawk, they know to stay away from the pond.”

“Oh,” said Lee Roy, who was standing nearby. “I always wondered what all that racket was about. Ada Mae must get hungry a lot because I hear a lot of squawking.”

“One thing about Dwayne,” said the turtle, “is that he’s a little flighty. Some of that squawking is just Dwayne panicking about something. He is not the perfect security bird, but he’s all we have. By the way, I don’t believe we have formally met. I am “Tobias A. Slider, Esq. at your service. My friends just call me Toby.“

“I’m Gus. This is my sister, Callie, and this is our friend Lee Roy. Callie and I are looking for our brother and our sisters. Maybe we could help you find Dwayne and then you could help us find our family.”

“You might look for them on the other side of those woods. I hear there are lots of cats over there. I can carry you past the pond on my back, but I can only take one at a time, and we really need Dwayne to sound the alarm in case Ada Mae comes out.”

Gus suddenly remembered that the garage door was open and the Potters could be home any minute.

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