Story Telling - Unexpectedly Talking Animals

Bagshot looked completely flabbergast. He was experiencing a feeling of joy, excitement, and some other element that he didn't know how to contain. He had been tired of being called 'dimwit' the whole trip, so he decided this could be a breakthrough for his relationship with the rest of the group. "What is this? Some sort of bond between animal and human?" said Madi with a surprised look on her visage. Veronica interrupted her twin sister right away. "Madi, what are you talking about: this is so cute!" Veronica started walking slowly towards the rabbit-like creature in order to better examine this phenomenon. Devin and Samuel just stood there, looking dumbfounded, and they were a strange sight to see. Usually Buster Bagshot was the one to look that way, but now it was him who was surprising the older ones and giving them a startle. Somehow, he had a way of getting animals' attention and, almost like telepathy, communicating with the creature. Perhaps this was what the Elders of their home town had in mind when sending him off on the journey with the others to the meeting in Newmeadow. "Well, this is just a bit odd...out of the ordinary...and strange..." said Madi, in response to Veronica. Veronica rolled her eyes and remembered a quote she once read that said, "most people do not listen to others words with the intent to understand, instead most people listen with the intent to reply." Stephen R. Covey was one of Madi's favorite authors and she memorized quite a few of his truly effective quotes. She was about to tell it to everybody when, suddenly, the rabbit spoke again. "Iz extraordinarily cowld out now, not I'm right?" the rabbit said with an accent unrecognizable to any of the travelers. The odd grammar threw everybody off, of course with the exception of Buster, who knew exactly what the creature said. "Yah, you are a right little guy," said Buster, also in an unusual tone of voice. Then he turned to the rest of his clan, looking amazed at not only the rabbit but also about himself being able to answer the creature. He asked what he should inquire the rabbit first. Devon commanded him in a whisper to ask the creature how to get to the nearest village. But Buster was already on it. "Heya, what do you manj' to be called?" he said. The animal replied right away, using hand--or paw--gestures and all. "Me Prudish. Sleelo bepyar?" The rabbit spoke in a new, foreign language, and all eyes turned to Bagshot in an attentive way to see if he could respond. Veronica asked Buster what it meant. He filled them in: "Prudish asked what my name was. I will ask him how we can get to the nearest village." He turned to the strangely animatronic-like creature who was now waddling back and forth, as if pacing. "Me Buster. Wer iz closest man-place? Nearby?" "Oh, oh. Not good though. Wer Buster going toward?" For the first time, the journeyers noticed the rabbit's features: one eye dark green, the other brown; one ear crooked, the other ear straight up; and his voice is rough yet in a medium-high pitch. "Us going towards Newmeadow," said Buster. Devon leaned over to Bagshot's face again and whispered a warning not to tell the rabbit too much. He didn't want to take the chance of assuming the rabbit wasn't a spy for a rival town, or a product of some evil sorcery that they shouldn't mess around with. Prudish beckoned for the travelers to follow him, and they did. Even through all those whiskers on the rabbit's face the group could tell he was a bit annoyed. After walking for about a minute, the creature appeared to start sniffing around. He did not bother to explain what was going on. And after another minute he began to dig. Samuel was shivering because the morning sun was covered by a cloud, so Madi went over, sat on a thick, dry log, and had him sit on her lap for warmth. The winery breeze was shrill against the young teenagers' unaccustomed skin, and Madi had guessed this encounter with the strange rabbit would slow down the trip so, though she knew they needed to restock supplies desperately, she secretly didn't believe a tiny and unintelligent rabbit would do any good for their cause. Because of these thoughts she had decided to stay out of the conversations she knew were bound to occur. "Need any help there?" asked Sam, cautiously, trying to talk to Prudish. Buster translated the words so that the rabbit would understand. "No...mmm...almost der...nnn..." mumbled Prudish. Then he stood up. It looked like he had his hands on his hips, an uncharacterized thing a rabbit would do! Buster started vehemently laughing right when he noticed Prudish was copying the way Devon was standing. Suddenly, Veronica gasped and rushed towards the place Prudish had been digging. She immediately began tearing away at the late-summer moss below where the talking creature had been excavating. When she had tore away a fair amount of the dewy grass mixed with dirt and bog, all the other journeyers stooped over to see what Veronica had found. It was, indeed, a rustic and seemingly ancient, railroad track. Prudish intervened right as everyone started getting excited. "Aha. Dees iz exahactly what I was gonna look you," he said. "Old train would drive all day every day in the past. When you mans stopped use, you try not tear the tracks down. See, these wood planks lead straight right to a man town. Errzulee." "He means to say that the village is three fourths a mile away if we follow the tracks," explained Bagshot to his group. Veronica sighed, probably with a mixture of relief and joy. "Good. Buster, stop staring into nowhere dammit! Act at least a little more professional than the rabbit," said Devon toughly, although you could tell he was pleased that Prudish could do something for his sake. Prudish scowled at him. "Go. You have a full day now," said the rabbit, and he hopped away into the thickets of Darkpass.