Footprints

Chapter Six

The next day, Chips and Charley help Rocky and Rhonda build a new shelter. With the four of them working, it took no time to set it up. Rocky and Rhonda were not fussy, and they reminded Chips and Charley that the shelter need only be temporary. Spring was coming soon, and they were planning to make their trip to Silver Lake.

Chips tried to talk his mom and dad into letting him go with Rocky and Rhonda, but they said that he was too young to go on a journey like that. They promised him that they would take him on a special trip this summer, but they did not say where they would go

Since Charley lived by himself, he did not need permission to go anywhere, but he did not want to leave Chips behind.

The sun was shining and it was rather warm, so the friends concerned themselves with their plans for the day. The ice and snow had melted from the forest floor and left the ground very muddy. They decided that this would be a great time to make mud pies.

"Let's see who can make the grossest pie," suggested Rocky.

They began to gather mud and other things they could find to make a gross mud pie.

Chips gathered some rotten berries and mixed them with his mud to make a "bluckberry" pie.

Rhonda found a dead worm. She mixed some mud and woodchips together, added the worm, and called it "wormwood" pie.

Rocky found Henrietta, the skunk, and had her spray her skunk juice into his mud. He also added some weeds, and he called his pie "skunk-weed" pie.

Charley also looked for something gross for his pie. He stopped looking, though, when he found a huge footprint. It was a much bigger print than that of any animal he had known. He wondered who could have made such a print. He hurried back to his friends to tell them about his find.

"Look at our gross pies," said Rocky. "What kind of pie did you make?"

"Forget the pies, " Charley shouted. "Follow me!"

They all followed Charley to the footprint.

"Who made this print?" Chips asked.

"It's so big," said Rhonda.

"I've never seen a print like that," exclaimed Rocky.

Chips suggested, "Let's look for some more prints."

They looked around and found a few more prints, but they were unable to follow the mysterious tracks very far.

Chips said, "We better report this to the other animals."

"Yes, who knows what kind of animal made these prints," agreed Rhonda.

They were close to Grumpy's house, so they went there first. Grumpy was in his front yard complaining about a small hole he found on his roof.

"Hey, Grumpy," called Chips. "We found some very big footprints over behind those trees."

Rocky added, "They are bigger than any prints we have ever seen before."

"Hmm...What do they look like?" asked Grumpy.

Rocky said, "They are so big that Chips could lie down and fit inside one of them. Whoever made them had three toes and very narrow heels."

"Well, I'll be. They sound like the prints of the Gubazah Monster."

"The what?" asked Chips.

"The Gubazah Monster," explained Grumpy. "Long ago his prints appeared in the forest. Nobody has actually seen him up close, though some animals have caught a peek at him from the distance. They said that he was big and ugly, and he had a very sad face. He never has been known to hurt anyone, but we were all scared of him except for me. I just thought he was a pest because he walked through my garden once."

"Do you really think it might be him?" asked Chips.

"It could be. Let me know if you find more tracks. If so, I am going to build a big fence around my garden in the spring."

Rocky, Rhonda, Chips, and Charley ran off to tell some more animals. They were very excited about this new mystery, and they just wished William was there to help them find the Gubazah Monster!