Minnie meets Louis and Ray

In the glade of the forest, Minnie made her way into the center of the woods, calling out his name twice.

"Mister Snake! Oh, Mister Snake!"

However, Kaa was gone again. There was still no luck for the female black mouse to catch the Indian python.

"Oh, dear. I’m sure he came this way,” she said, looking around with her fists on her hips. "Do you suppose he could be hiding somewhere?"

Little did she know that there was an alligator and a firefly peeking from behind the bushes.

The alligator was an obese American one who was over 6 feet tall with a yellow-green muzzle, belly, palms, and soles, a brown olive backline between darker brown scales, black eyebrows, sharp white teeth, yellow and sometimes green eyes, and olive claws. His name was Louis.

The firefly was a very small and slender Cajun one with holes on his wings, red hair, and very few teeth. He also had a Southern accent mixed with a French accent. His name was Raymond, or Ray for short, Louis's friend.

"Where could he possibly be hiding?" Minnie wondered, as she looked behind a tree. The gator and firefly moved between the bushes and the tree, yet they were hidden within a shadow. As Minnie turned toward an open log, the gator and firefly moved next to the tree and they stood right behind her.

"Not here…," Minnie said, before kneeling down to the log’s level. "I wonder..."

As she crawled into the log, the gator and firefly looked at each other and skipped on top of the log in unison, before stopping in front of the other side of the log. Once Minnie came out from the log, she stood still for a moment and brushed her dress with her hands.

"I suppose he—" she started to say, before she jolted and gasped in shock when she turned and glanced at the gator and firefly.

"Why… what peculiar creatures."

Just then, she spotted two blue ribbons with their names embroidered in yellow and read them one at a time: "Louis...And Raymond. Why, he goes by Ray!"

Minnie placed a finger on the gator's nose, and a low honking sound came out of his mouth, surprising her.

"If you think we're made of wax, you ought to pay to see us, you know." Louis said, and he jabbed his friend with his left elbow. As a result, a high honking noise emitted from Ray's mouth.

"If you think we've come to life, you ought to say something to us." Ray added, before jabbing his friend with his right elbow. The same low honk came out of Louis's mouth, and Louis bounced into Ray, the same high honk emitting from him. The gator and firefly then hopped on the log and made the same honking noises by jabbing one another with their big/small feet, heavy/svelte hips, torsos, and backs before landing on the grassy terrain.

"That's logic!" the gator and firefly said in unison, holding their left index fingers up.

"Well," Minnie said with a short chuckle, as she gave them a short curtsey. "It's been nice meeting you boys. Goodbye."

Just as she started walking away, however, the gator and firefly darted and stood right in her way.

"You’re beginning backwards." Louis said to her.

"Aye, the first thing to say actually is,” Ray added, before the bears broke out in song again and took Minnie's hands. They spun her around in a circle, like a game of ring-around-the-Rosie, before they shook her hands rapidly and released her, causing her to fall on the ground.

Louis and Ray: *How do you do*
*And shake hands*
*Shake hands*
*Shake hands*
*How do you do*
*And shake hands*
*State your name and business*

"That's manners!" the gator and firefly said to her, holding up their opposite index fingers in front of her.

The two front bangs of Minnie's fur-hair were covering her face, so Minnie flipped them out of the way to give herself a better view.

"Really?" Minnie asked them, and she then stood up on her feet. "Well, my name is Minnie, and I’m following an Indian python, so—"

As she turned to leave, the gator and firefly suddenly appeared in front of her again, stopping her in her tracks.

"You can't leave yet." Louis said to her, waving his hands in front of her.

"No, the visit has just started." Ray added.

"I'm very sorry, but—" Minnie said as she continued walking, with the gator and firefly still in her way.

"Would you like to play hide and seek?" Ray asked, as multiple clones of the gator and firefly popped up from the trees and a single bush. The clones disappeared, and the gator and firefly then fused themselves into one body, yet their legs and arms were still with each of the gator and firefly.

"Button! Button! Who's got the button?" Louis said.

"No thank you." Minnie replied to them politely, only to see the gator and firefly in front of her again in fighting stances.

"If you stay a little longer, we’ll have a battle." Ray said, and the gator and firefly began bopping one another in a honking, comical fight.

"That’s very kind of you, but I must get going." Minnie said, as she gently pushed them out of the way. The gator and firefly then jolted in front of her and stood next to two trees that served as an archway in the woods.

"Why?" they asked her in unison.

"Because I’m following an Indian python." Minnie answered them, only to be blocked by them again.

"Why?" the gator and firefly asked her once more.

"Well, I'm curious to know where he's going." Minnie replied to them, before finally starting to leave again.

"Ohhh, she's curious." Ray whispered, as he and Louis had inquisitive expressions on their faces.

"The oysters were curious, too, weren’t they?” Ray whispered to him, causing Minnie to stop and turn around to listen to what the gator and firefly were saying.

"Aye. And you remember what happened to them."

The gator and firefly huddled with one another and started crying before Minnie came walking straight back to them.

"Poor things!" they said in sad voices.

"Well, what did happen to the oysters?" Minnie asked them. Louis and Ray began marching towards the log.

"Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in hearing about it." Louis said to her.

"Oh, but I am." Minnie replied to them, as she followed them and got in front of them.

"Ohhh, no. You’re in much too much of a hurry." said Ray.

Minnie was still in front of them as she was walking in reverse towards the log, and said, "Well, perhaps I could spare a little time."

"You could?" the gator and firefly said, smiles of delight forming on their faces. "Well!"

With that said, Louis and Ray placed Minnie on the log before making back-flips and landed in front of the bushes and trees.