Gabriel's Tale - Chapter 3

This month Gabriel the little white dog canvasses the neighborhood to try to find one of Poetry's friends who might be able to tell him where she has gone.  I'd written my original stories about the Adventures of Poetry the Calico Cat and Gabriel the Snowman about 20 years ago.  The characters in Chapter 3--Gertrude Rabbit, Benjamin Bee, and Sandy the Dog--were featured in those stories.  The cats, Molly and George, were real cats who lived in the real cabin that you can get to through our woods.  My neighbor, Edie, lives there.  I've featured her cabin in a couple of Take Joy Society posts when we've held our get-to-gethers there.  Connor the Chipmunk was another original character, named after Edie's first grandchild who was living in the cabin at the time.

The following are excerpts from the story that go with the illustrations.

Chapter 3 – The Adventure Begins

Gabriel didn’t go far his first day.  He wanted to visit all of Poetry’s friends in the neighborhood first to see if they knew where she might be.  His first stop was Gertrude Rabbit’s hole.  He found it under the bush next door.  He’d never met Gertrude when he was a Snowman, but Poetry had told him about her.  Just as he expected, she was not happy to be disturbed. “Who are you and what do you want!?” she scowled.  Gabriel, forgetting he was now a little white dog, introduced himself as Gabriel the Snowman.  “Harrumph!” Gertrude snorted.  “You expect me to believe that?!”  Gabriel blushed when he realized what he’d said.  After explaining everything to her, Gertrude said rather rudely, “I can’t help you,” then turned and high-tailed it back into her hole.  

##

Gabriel was not to be discouraged.  He sat there and thought hard to remember some of Poetry’s other friends.  
There was Benjamin Bee, but he had no idea where to find him in the middle of winter.  He remembered Poetry told him Sandy, the dog, had moved away. 

##

It was Molly who got up and crossed the room to the window.  George decided he’d go, too, to see what was going on.  Both cats cautiously approached Gabriel even though a pane of glass separated them.  One could never be too careful when it came to dogs.  There stood Gabriel with his front paws on the sill, his tail wagging in a big circle.  A huge, eager smile broke out across his face as he hoped Molly and George could tell him where Poetry had gone.  Molly spoke first, “What do you want?”

"I'm looking for my best friend, Poetry the Calico Cat.  Have you seen her?" 

. . . . ..Just then Gabriel heard a car drive up.  Uh oh.  He turned his head away from the window for a moment.  When he turned back to the window Molly and George were gone.  He hadn’t a moment to lose—he ran down the steps on the other side of the porch and hid in the bushes as a lady got out of the car and walked up to the cabin. 
 

##

“Chip, chip, chip.”  Gabriel cocked his head.  He thought he heard something.  

“Chip, chip, chip.”  He did.  Just then a little chipmunk appeared under his nose.  

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” Gabriel asked as tears welled up in his eyes. 

“No, siree, no indeed, and I’m not afraid of those cats in there either.  I’m Connor, by the way.”  Gabriel wiped the tears from his eyes and extended his paw to the little fellow.  

##

Scratching his head, Connor said, “Well, I guess it’s all right then to tell you where Poetry is, but I don’t think it’s going to be much help in finding her.” 

Gabriel’s brow creased as he listened intently to Connor tell how Poetry’s family had been transferred to a place far across the ocean.  A place called Great Britain.  That’s all he knew.    

##

That night an exhausted Gabriel slept soundly under the bush.  He’d burrowed under the leaves and stayed quite warm.  It was a new feeling for him—to worry about being too cold.  When he was a Snowman he had to worry about getting too warm.

##

Gabriel did not want to scare the cats so he started making whimpering noises, hoping they’d come to investigate—and they did!  Molly led the way.  “Wait up!” cried George who tumbled into the back end of Molly when Molly stopped abruptly. 

##

“I just had a thought,” Molly said.  “Isn’t Mom getting her delivery today?  I heard her talking to the trucking company.  Her furniture is being delivered from Baltimore—and isn’t Baltimore where all the big ships dock?”

“I get what you’re saying,” George said. 

Gabriel’s eyebrows rose.  He was confused.   There was SO much in the world he didn’t understand yet.  George turned to Gabriel, “Don’t you see?!  You can climb into the back of the truck and hitch a ride to Baltimore.  Then from there you can hitch a ride on a boat to Scotland!” Yes!  Maybe that would work!

Next month:  Chapter 4 - The Journey Begins

❤️Take Joy❤️