Cleaning Up

Chapter Five

The next day, the sun shone brightly and the ice began to melt off of all the trees. The four friends went outside to explore the forest. Broken twigs and branches covered the ground. It was hard to get by since the paths were all blocked.

Soon all the animals in the forest came out of their homes to see the destruction. They were all sad to see how badly many of the trees were destroyed. After surveying the area, they all began to gether at the base of Roly-Poly Hill.

The squirrels and bird gathered in the branches of the trees, and the ground animals gathered underneath. Grumpy Gopher stood on a stump and cough loudly to get everyone's attention.

He said, "It's just awful to see what has happened to our dear forest. We must work together to clean up this nasty mess."

A squirrel asked, "What will we do with all the broken branches?"

A beaver suggested, "Let's form a pile of them on top of the hill. Then we can burn them in a huge bonfire."

The animals were all very excited by the plan. It sounded like fun to have a big fire after all the work was finished. They were anxious to get started with the work.

It was decided that the squirrels would go ahead of the other animals and knock down all of the loose and broken branches still remaining in the trees. Then the woodchucks, gophers, and beavers could cut down the trees that were totally destroyed by the ice. Next the larger land animals would begin to haul the larger branches up Roly-Poly Hill. Then the smaller animals and the birds would clear the twigs from the floor of the forest. It would be hard work, but if they could get it all finished by the evening, they would all be rewarded by attending the bonfire party on the top of the hill.

After the plan was decided, the animals began to work. Chips, Rocky, and Rhonda began to gather the medium size branches. Charley could only carry small twigss, but he worked twice and fast as anyone else to make sure he did his share. Grumpy Gopher grumbled the whole time. The squirrels had a great time knocking down the branches. They made it into a game as they scurried through the trees. It was quite a sight to see the animals working together to get the job done.

When evening came, the forest was clear and safe once again. The animals wer tired but happy that they accomplished so much. They all gathered on the top of Roly-Poly Hill around the great pile of branches and twigs. They began rubbing the twigs together and soon small fires were started on the base of the pile. The fires slowly ate their way up the wood until the whole pile was a beautiful orange blaze. The animals all stood in awe as they watched the bonfire.

"I bet you could see this fire from miles away," said Chips.

"Especially since it's on a hill," said Rhonda.

At the time went by, animals from different sections of the forest showed up to see why there was such a big fire on the hill. Many bird flew overhead. They commented on how beautiful the fire looked from a distance. Some foxes from another part of the forest arrived and said the ice storm was not as harsh in their parts of the forest. The crowd of animals was getting thicker and thicker.

When Charley looked into the crowd of animals, he spotted some deer. Deer were very uncommon in this part of the forest, so all the animals stood aside in wonder as they passed. Charley nudged Chips.

"Look, it's the deer family," Charley whispered.

The deer came right up to Chips and Charley. They smiled and said hello.

"We saw this fire from the distance," said the father deer. "We wondered why such a big fire was made."

Chips explained about the cleanup day after the ice storm. He described how hard they worked all day and how the pile of branches were set of fire at the end of the day.

The father deer smiled and greeted Rocky and Rhonda, we were also astonished to see such wonderful animals.

The mother deer said, "We must go back now. Please come to visit us sometimes."

Chips and Charley said good-bye, and after the deer left, they hopped around in excitement.

"They invited us to visit," exclaimed Chips.

"Oh, I would so love to go back to their section of the forest," replied Charley .

Rocky and Rhonda laughed at their excited friends, and they all made plans for the visit in the spring.

The fire began to die down, and the animals were all tired and ready to go to sleep. A few squirrels promised to stay and watch the fire until it died away, and the rest of the animals returned to their homes.

It was quite a day. Once again, Rocky, Rhonda, and Charley stayed overnight at Chips' house. They all fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. Each one dreamed about hard work, bonfires, and the springtime that was soon to come.