|
Children Discover Telly Land
by Paul Powers Telly Tales Chapter Nine Children Discover Telly Land! By Paul David Powers 2007 "Children Discover Telly Land is Dedicated to the Powers and Carl Dickerson Family, our six grandsons, Blake, Austin, Wyatt, Pacey, Nathan, our nieces, Kourtney & Sierra and nephew, Bubby, who always makes me laugh!" THE GREAT ADVENTURE! On occasion, human tourists come through the swamp curious wanting to see its exotic birds, wild animals, and beautiful scenery. Like going on an African Safari, they come not realizing the dangers of this tropical paradise. The animals in Telly's Kingdom are tame and live to themselves. Nevertheless, some are predators, man-eaters and very dangerous. Still, some come for the thrill of seeing something different, seeking adventure! Such was the case with three families from Virginia that decided to bring their tents and gear and set up camp. Telly heard about the humans being near and he and Thomas thought they should go and investigate. After all, Telly Land, a name that some animals jokingly called Telly's Kingdom was unknown with the exception of the hunters that came that time and the Prince from England. The Owls crept close to the edge of the human camp and saw a woman, most likely the mother and her children, a boy and a girl sitting by the campfire roasting marshmallows. (See Photo One). Telly knew what marshmallows were because he ate some when he was back in England. The following morning the kids decided to go on an adventure to explore the wonders of the swamp. The boys name was Bubby, a funny little guy, always laughing and asking questions about wildlife and his favorite subject, "Dinosaurs!" Bubby's Dinosaurs His sister, Sierra was a blond haired little cutie, more concerned with the way she looked than silly things like strange animals and the bush. However, she and brother were inseparable. When Bubby decided to go and check out the swamp- Sierra was all too eager to go along with him. In another camp not more than twenty feet away was another family, a mom and dad with four boys. It was obvious that the people in both camps were relatives! One was Blake 12, Austin 8, who played video games most of his free time. Wyatt 3, who followed his brothers everywhere they went and cute little Pacey, a baby boy! Austin always had to be doing something, so he decided to go to other camp to see what Bubby and Sierra were up too. Of course when he heard that they were going hiking through the swamp he was more than eager to go. As they walked a little distance, they ran into Nathan, their Pa Pa's grandson! Nathan was 3 years old just like Wyatt! The two of them, hit it off right away. Well you know what happened next, the boys and the girl joined together for the Great Adventure-all without permission of their parents from three separate camps. Now Telly was not too concerned about the children, in fact he loved all of God's Creatures especially the children, human or not. However, he was concerned for their safety and did not want outsiders knowing about them and the swamp community. He did not want it to become a "Telly Land" tourist spot for people and take away from them the serenity of their peaceful life. Austin, Bubby, Nathan, Wyatt, and Sierra decided to take a hike along the swamp bank. They walked for sometime then heard rushing water. There in front of them was a dam with water pouring over it. What interested them more was what was standing by the dam- it was two Beavers, (yes, you guessed it, Mr. & Mrs. Beaver, and they were talking with one another. Austin said, "Did you hear that? Those beavers are talking!" Sierra said, "Austin, you are imaging things! Bubby said, "Maybe they are talking beaver talk?" Nathan and Wyatt both said, "Beavers talk?" The others started laughing and that got Austin mad. "Let's get closer and see!" So not wanting to upset Austin any further, they agreed, still laughing that animals could not really talk except in cartoons on TV. However, as they got closer, all of them heard the beavers talking! "Didn't I tell you, I did hear them talking!" said Austin. All the kids got excited and so loud that the Beavers heard the children and quickly hid behind some logs. That did not stop the adventurers; they followed in the direction of where they went. Austin, Wyatt and Nathan went forward, Bubby went to the left and Sierra to the right and surrounded the Beavers. The Beavers had nowhere to run to! Mrs. Beaver whispered in Mr. Beavers ear, "They have caught us and it's my guest, that they heard us talking!" Mr. Beaver shook his head, "That's not good Martha, now the humans will tell others and more will come! Mr. & Mrs. Beaver Austin spoke up, "Hey, You two are talking Beavers aren't you?" The Beavers did not know whether to say anything or not, but then decided to answer the enquiring youngsters. "Yes, yes, we are talking Beavers and you have found Telly Land like some say. However, you must not tell anyone what you are about to see or hear because unlike you, not all people are friendly! It could bring danger and even death to the us all, who live in the swamp." Said Mr. Beaver! Bubby said, "We wouldn't hurt you or any of the creatures here!" Sierra agreed, shaking her head! We just never ever thought we would hear real animals talking!" The younger boys Nathan and Wyatt said, "We no hurt!" The Beavers replied, "Okay, come, come with us! We want you to meet Telly and Tully Owl, they are our leaders, and they talk as well!" The five of them walked across the top of the dam to the other side of the marsh, through the thick brush to a great opening that was busy with activity. Everywhere there was activity, creatures working, children playing and at the edge of the huge circle were this tree house, where the Owls lived! Before they even knocked on the door, Telly spoke, "Hello children, I see that you have met the Beavers?" The kids could not believe their ears. The owl was talking! In the air, they could smell food cooking and by that time, they were starving. The Owls were expecting them! "I'm Telly the Owl, overseer of the swamp and we welcome you to our home!" The door opened and Tully wiping off her apron said, "Welcome to our home Children! I have made lunch, won't you join us!" Bubby said, "You bet, I am starved! Do you have chicken nuggets?" The beavers looked at one another puzzled. Austin was not too sure, "Hey guys you think we should do this? They know we know about them, they might try and poison us or something!" "Nonsense, all creatures are God's Children, Come and eat!" said Tully! Austin took a bite, it was vegetable soup. Austin did not eat much of it because he only likes certain food. Like Bubby, it would have been great if they had McDonalds there. However, restaurants like McDonalds were miles away from the swamp. After lunch, Telly took the five children to meet the other creatures of the swamp where they received a warm welcome! They heard some music off to the right of where they were walking. Telly said, "Come I want you to meet my son, Thomas." When they passed the clearing, there was this owl, two rabbits, and other creatures playing music, "Hi, I'm Tommy and this is my band, The Hooters and we are practicing for the Full Moon Harvest Party tonight. Sierra yelled out, "Tonight is Halloween!" Thomas did not know what that meant, but Telly shook his head in agreement! "Why don't you come tonight?" said Thomas. The kids thought that would be great IF their parents let them come! Annual Crop Harvest Well it happened that the party would be early that evening and their parents wanted to play cards, some game called "poker!" The children could play outside long as they were within range of the camp. The parents got to playing cards, laughing and having such a good time that several hours went by. The children had fun too, dancing with the Owls, Rabbits, Raccoons, and other creatures. It was the best party they had ever been too! Something they would never forget their entire lives! Sierra never laughed so hard in her life, especially seeing this raccoon dancing and flipping repeatedly. As the evening got later, Telly and Tully called the children together! "Children, no humans have ever seen or heard what you have today! What you have learned, you must keep a secret because not all humans are not like you. Some are harmful and some have even come here to kill! See Roc the Croc over there, last fall, hunters came here to capture him. We all scared them off~ SO we would like your promise that you will not tell anyone about Telly Land for our safety?" Austin, Bubby, Nathan, Wyatt, and Sierra all promised not to tell anyone about Telly and their neat new friends that they met in the swamp. As the years passed, whenever they got together, they talked about that night, but to this day, they have kept their promise to Telly and their new friends, they never told a soul about Telly Land! Paul David Powers, 419 E. Ferrell St. South Hill, Virginia 23970 USA! (434) 447-8579 All Rights Reserved! (c) 2007 Paul David Powers graduated from Miracle Valley Bible College and holds a BA Degree in Counseling from Master's International School of Divinity. His previous writings include Tales of the Swamp Creatures,From Woodstock to the Cross, and soon to be Published, Telly Tales! www.hiswayministries.us Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |