“Peeko!  It’s eight o’clock!  Time to wake up!” Mother hollered.

           “Mmm… I don’t want to wake up,” Peeko whined.

           “I know, I know, but you have to.  I’ve placed your clothes on your desk.  I have to go to work now.  Have a nice day at school!”

           Peeko rubbed his eyes and yawned.

           “Another boring day,” he sighed.

           Peeko was a porcupine with hazel-green eyes and black and grey quills.  He absolutely loved adventure.

           Lying on his bed, Peeko thought about his life.  “My daily life and school bore me.  I have to change that!”  Then a light bulb went on in his head.

           “I know!  I’ll run away!  Surely something exciting will happen!”  Peeko thought about what he planned to do.

           “I’ll write a note to Mother telling her that I am going away.  Then I’ll say that I will think of her and my sisters, Poppy and Pansy, while I am gone.  If I like it there, I may never come back home.  She probably won’t care though, because she likes my brother, Peter, better.  I hate Peter!  He always acts so mean and snobby!”  After Peeko had written his note, he packed up his belongings and left the note on his desk.

           Peeko went outside.  It felt warm and sunny.  With a blue sky over his head, he saw flower buds blooming.  

           He smiled from ear to ear and shouted, “Goodbye home!  Goodbye Mother!  Goodbye Peter, Poppy, and Pansy!”  Peeko scampered across the grass away from his home.  He hummed his favorite tune and felt as if he entered a new world.  Running through the forest, Peeko heard some noises.  He tiptoed over to find out what had happened.  As he got closer, he spotted a black and white animal with a long bushy tail and black eyes smiling at him.

           Peeko greeted it by saying, “Hello!  Who are you?”

           “I’m Sally the Skunk.  What’s your name?”

           “My name is Peeko.  Do you want to play?” Peeko proposed.

           “Yeah!  I know a fun place!  Do you want to go there?”

           “Sure!  Let’s go!” Peeko exclaimed.  Together, they ran off.

           When Peeko got close to this fun place, he saw water and steam shooting out of the ground and into the air.  Peeko’s eyes grew wide with astonishment.

           “Wow!  I’ve never seen anything like this before!” he raved.

           “Do you want to play in that pool of water?” Sally proposed.

           “Yeah!”  Peeko and Sally jumped into the water.

           Peeko yelped, “Ah! This water scorched me!”

           Sally chuckled, “People call this a hot spring.”  Peeko splashed her with water.           

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” he demanded.

           They started playing and splashing each other until Sally interjected, “I think I have to go home now.  It’s getting late and my mother must be looking for me.”

           They parted once Peeko reluctantly replied, “Oh, okay then.  It was nice meeting you Sally!  Goodbye!”

           Peeko reflected back to the events that had occurred that day.  “Today was so much fun and extremely exciting,” he reminisced.

Peeko continued his journey until he saw a monster before him.  It was a huge, red square on top of four round, black circles.  Peeko moved closer to the monster.  Surprisingly, it started moving.  Peeko chased behind it and eventually realized that black smoke was coming out of its rear.

           “Ew!  That smoke smells horrible!” Peeko complained.  He chased the monster until he ran out of energy and slept by a short tree in the forest to rest.

           When night fell, Peeko heard a wolf howling.  Peeko began to feel scared and lonely.  He missed his mother.  Tears started to well up in his eyes.  Finally, Peeko fell asleep.

           The next morning, Peeko woke up when he heard a loud ‘BANG!’  He quickly ran to the nearest bush and hid inside.  When he heard another bang, he peeked out.  Peeko saw a skunk that was lying on the grass, lifeless.  He was so frightened by the sight that he hid into the thick leaves of the bush.  Another round of bangs came.  He peeked through the leaves and saw that a bird had fallen to the ground.  Then Peeko realized what had happened.

           “Those men want to kill us!” Peeko whispered to himself.  He felt afraid and sad, but didn’t dare to move a muscle.

           Peeko thought to himself, “I don’t want adventure anymore.  I just want the comfort and safety of my family.  I really miss Mother, my sisters, and even Peter.”

           After a while, Peeko poked his head outside of the bush.  When he made sure that the men were gone, he hopped out of it.  Then he began his long journey back home.

           When Peeko eventually reached his house, night had fallen.  He started to feel a warm, fuzzy sensation grow from the tip of his toes to the top of his head.

           “Mother!  Poppy, Pansy, and Peter!  I have come back home!” Peeko proclaimed. Suddenly, four figures emerged from the house.

           “Oh Peeko!  I worried so much about you!” Mother wailed.

           “I missed you a lot, Peeko.  It was boring at home without you.  I don’t want you to ever leave home again,” Peter mumbled.

           “Yeah, me too,” Pansy agreed.

           Finally, bedtime arrived.

           “Ahh… boy does it feel good to be lying in a nice, soft bed right now,” Peeko murmured.  Then Mother came in and gave him a big kiss good night.

           “Sweet dreams, Peeko,” she cooed.

           Peeko curled up in a tight ball and sighed.

           “It feels great to be home again.”

 

 

 

PEEKO’S ADVENTURE

Michelle L.