The arrival of three more animals.
Now the grape vine failed miserably this time, and none of the animals knew of the imminent arrival of three more homeless creatures.
the first to get his paws out of the box and fight his way free was a large lion. Now this lion, having been head of a pride before he was dismissed due
to his harem taking a fancy to another male, had given himself the name Clarence, as he thought it grand and befitted the leader of a large pride. now
Clarence, or "Leo" as matilda insists on calling him, is frustrated and confused. he woke from an uncomfortable sleep to find himself lying on a carpet
with animals of all kinds staring at him. Leo, Oh, I'm sorry, Clarence, must get his name correct, regarded the other animals with bleary eyes. rubbing
his eyes with a stiff paw, Clarence blinked hard and then looked round him. there were animals of all kinds, from tigers to otters, bears to badgers.
"Where is this?" Clarence asked, realising his voice was hoarse and he felt dreadful.
"it's your new home mate," Matilda said, waving her paw expansively.
"don't you talk to me like that!" Clarence snapped, "my name's Clarence, I'm leader of a pride of lions!"
"Clarence, What kind of a name is that?" Isaac asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"I'd much rather call him Leo, it’s easier," matilda said. Isaac looked down at the lion lying on the carpet, who regarded him with hostility.
"My name's Clarence, and you'd better remember that!" The huge lion yelled.
"Ok Leo, whatever," Isaac replied, knowing he was safe. Clarence bristled with anger.
"I will have my rights!" he roared, "I will be respected!"
"I never thought I'd ever meet a hoarse lion," Brydy said, "You sound like someone did to you what you threaten to do to others, namely tear their
throat out." Clarence slammed his paw down on the carpet in impotent rage!
"Get over it mate," Matilda said, "get used to the fact you're new here, and that you'll never be a pride leader again. just be grateful you are
alive at all." Clarence buried his face in his paws, the long tailed rat was right.
the second animal to struggle from the travelling box was a rather large tiger. Feeling hot and bothered, he crawled towards the door of the room he was
in and out into the main hallway. feeling a breeze coming from somewhere, the tiger licked his left forepaw and held it up to gauge the direction of the
breeze. finding it came from the top of the stairs, the tiger negotiated the stairs, making quite sure his paws were firmly on each step before he tried
going up one more step. In this manner, he managed to get to the top and flop exhausted onto the carpet in the room where the breeze was.
the third animal to emerge from the box was a polar bear. he knew there were polar bears around him, but he had an urge to explore more of the place beyond
the room, in the same direction he'd seen the tiger disappearing. Struggling up the stairs in much the same way as the tiger had, the polar bear crawled
along the landing at the top of the stairs, registering the slight smell of smoke from one of the rooms, which thankfully wasn't the room he was heading
for. Once he reached the room he wanted, the polar bear was confronted by the eyes of several animals staring down at him from a high place. the polar
bear counted a male and female adult snow leopard and their two cubs, as well as a rather attractive female polar bear, who also had a cub with her. he
could also just about see a snow tigress who was lying beneath whatever the other animals were lying on top of, and seemed most content with the situation
she was in.
"Who do we have here?" Arki asked, surprised to see another polar bear in their midst.
"I know where he's come from," her cub said, "the boss was talking into a plastic box about polar bears. I think he came from a similar place to
what you did mum." Arki shivered at the memory of her journey to her new home.
"I don't have much memory of my old home," the newcomer said, "what I would like to know is who you are and if you'll let me stay with you." Arki
waved a paw at her cub and the introductions came thick and fast, ending up with amber asking everyone to make room for the polar bear, who was helped
up onto the quilt by Brunetta and Arki, Brunetta pushing at his hind paws and Arki pulling on his forepaws until they got the polar bear onto the quilt.
Stretching out languidly, the large male polar bear settled down, thinking his lot a pleasant one all round.
After a long conference with Isaac, Clarence realised he was not the pride leader he'd once been, and that it was possible for animals smaller than himself,
Foster for example, to be more influential than himself. Clarence found that if he relaxed all four paws, the toes of which he'd been digging into the
sofa and the carpet throughout his conference with Isaac, and let things happen, he felt a lot better about things. Clarence realised that the long tailed
rat who called herself Matilda, and insisted on calling him Leo, was feared by most of the cubs, be they polar bear or whatever. now Clarence knew Matilda
ate nothing but fruit and other plant matter, so how could she exert so much influence over the cubs?
Meanwhile, the large tiger who'd arrived with Clarence was speaking with Snowy Half Tail. Snowy, snug beneath her quilt, wasn't about to let her jungle
cousin share her haven.
She did however let him work his forepaws beneath the quilt and this
partly mollified the
to be snug beneath the quilt. he found the British climate cold, and his paws, especially his hind,were cold most of the time. Standing on his hind legs
as he was, a feeling, like a cold draught eddied round his hind paws, which he hated. the tiger wondered why the large polar bear was allowed onto the
quilt where he wasn't. Asking snowy this, she said that it was down to the boss who went where, and she had no control over anything. At this the tiger
got angry and cuffed Snowy's paw hard with his, telling her that she had it made, what with spending her days beneath a quilt, how would she like it if
she was where he was, freezing his paws off! snowy replied that at least he could stand on his hind legs if his forepaws were supported, and she couldn't
do that. so she had to have some compensation for this.
"some compensation?" the tiger scoffed, "oh yes, that's mighty fine compensation! My paws are freezing cold!" then he began to whack the quilt
with a forepaw, screaming that:
"I want to have warm paws! is that too much to ask?" snowy felt sorry for her cousin, but she could do nothing.
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