This is a story about Goldie
One day, Goldie found herself in a bit of trouble.
“Oh dear,” Goldie said. “It might even be more than a bit.”
Goldie had fallen into a large pit, which seemed to appear out of nowhere.
“Goldieeeee!”
“Oh, Tabby. Hello, woof.”
“Whyyy are you down there? Did you find something? Is it treasure? I always wanted to find treasure, nyaha!”
“Well, no, you see I’ve fallen in by accident.”
“By accident? How exciting. This is just like something that happened last week on Maglev Mike, only in that episode Mike had taken as wrong-”
“Yes, but Tabby, can you find someone to help? Or a ladder!”
“Oooh yes, I have to tell everyone!!”
“Wait! Tabby! Oh…oh well,” Goldie sighed.
But luckily for Goldie, what Tabby lacked in appropriate reactions, she made up for her her ability to run across the whole island even faster than Genji (though they were all careful not to tell him that).
“See, she’s stuck! In a pit! Ooh! Have to take a picture for the island news letter - Goldie, smile!!”
A flash went off in Goldie’s startled face.
“It’s such a big pit too! I can’t believe it!” Bangle exclaimed. “We should start a committee! Committee for pit awareness and beautification! Doesn’t that sound pretty? Tabby, you can be the treasurer!”
“Yay!!”
“But-”
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Poor Goldie dearie.”
“Nyaaha, get it Deer-ie?”
“Oh, Fauna. You wouldn’t happen to have a ladder?”
“No, sorry. I’ve never quite been comfortably around ladders. Ahh, but I do have a very long scarf I knitted last week? Perhaps that could help?”
“Ahh, what a bon vivant! This will be a wonderful episode for your memoir!”
Goldie has a sinking feeling she is never going to get out of this hole. She paws experimentally at the dirt wall
“Hello, Rodney. Can you help me get out, do you think?
“What’s this about Goldie being in trouble, now-Wow?”
“Oh, Daisy! Thank goodness. Please can you help me out?”
“Oh my. Poor Goldie! Yes, we should definitely get you out! But what to do?”
“I have a snack you can have while you wait! Oh…well I guess I already ate it. But it was very delicious.”
“Thank you, Wade,” Goldie told him. Because it really was a nice thought. She wished she’d had a bigger breakfast.
“I found it! Actually I found 5!” Fauna exclaimed, breathless, “And I found Genji too!”
“Hey buff bunnies! Let’s pull Goldie out of this pit! We’ll pull her out so well, she’ll shoot straight to the moon, mochi!”
The problem was, the scarves were quite stretchy, and no one knew quite how to go about pulling someone out of a hole using several overly long scarves. The first scarf broke as Genji yanked on it with all his might. But Goldie didn’t budge an inch.
“Ohhhh, I read a book last week. Knots and Pulleys for Aspiring Seafarers and-“
“Yes, dearie. We all read it. It was our book club book.”
“Ugh, it was boring. There wasn’t even any romance in it! Or pictures!”
“I drew pictures in mine! Do you want to see?”
“I spilled juice on my copy and it made the letter at the end all squiggly.”
“We need to braid the scarves together and tie a knot I think, woof,” Goldie offered, feeling in need of both lunch and a bath. She wished she’d paid more attention to the book club book as well. It hadn’t seemed that relevant at the time.
“Ohh, you know, I’ve always liked the way you say that, ‘woof’” Daisy told her, looking up from the book she’s opened, which wasn’t even the one about knots, Goldie noticed, feeling almost, slightly exasperated.
“Yes, of course, but is now the time, Daisy?”
“I’m so happy! Woof woof woof!”
“I braided the rope, growf. It’s so beautiful! I think I want to be a hair stylist now! Look, it has flowers in it too!”
“Woooow! I LOVE it! You should totes be a hair stylist now!”
“Wouldn’t it be totes, amazing! And maybe that’s how I’d get my big break!”
The braided scarves, while perhaps unnecessarily decorated, proved far sturdier than the single scarf. Just, as Fauna pointed out to them all, like the book said.
It was therefore not so very much longer before Goldie’s friends were lined up, in an order happily, though maybe unnecessarily, designed by Bangle using some complicated drawings in the dirt. She had been hindered by Tabby, who became enamored with that sort of scheming and felt they should all take to designing heists.
“Tie it really tight around your tummy Goldie!”
“Yes, I’m ready!”
“Okay!! Ready! Heave—”
“Hold on, mochi! I should be call out when to pull! I was the coxswain on my rowing team in school! I was all the positions, it was a one bunny rowing team!”
“But I have the best projection, Bangle and I already decided, because I have been practicing my heavy metal singing lately.”
“Maybe you could just yell together?” Goldie offered, feeling practically impatient.
“Nyaha, I am going to be the loudest!!”
“HEAVE-HO” Genji and Tabby bellowed, loudly enough to shake a nest of wasps from the trees. (Fortunately, they were good friends with Wade and he abandoned the heaving and ho-ing to soothe their ruffled feelings)
Despite the loss of Wade, slowly but surely Goldie was lifted from the hole. She sighed in relief as her paws reached the edge of the pit.
“That was fun!” Bangle enthused. “We should do it everyday!”
“Yeah! It was totes exciting. I should be the one trapped! I was born to be a heroine in adventure story.”
Very pleased with their day’s work, the other animals ambled toward the town square, congratulating themselves on wonderful rescue.
Goldie watched them go. “Oh, woof. I need a cup of tea. And a bath, she sighed. This was not my very favorite day.”
“Oh, um, Goldie.” Wade said from below. “I seem to have ended up in a pit! Did you know there was a pit here? Ohhh it’s full of bugs, hello bugs, woof.”
Goldie sighed.
“Don’t worry Goldie! The bugs say they can dig me out!!”
Goldie felt very tired. “Okay Wade. Call me if you need help, woof.” She walk toward home, focusing her mind of some nice soothing tea and a comforting book.
Did Wade ever get out of the hole? That’s a story for another time
