TIMOTHY THE TOAD

This is a story of a beautiful place up in the mountains of Virginia, where the sky is light blue with big white fluffy clouds everywhere. This place is called Heart Tree Forest, and it is a nice place to raise a family and a safe home for all the local animals. In Heart Tree Forest they can all get together to run and play games and grow up together. They have picnics in the summer and sleigh rides in the winter.
And all the neighbors help each other find food and build their homes. Most of their homes are made of pine needles and leaves and dirt.

On this particular day in the forest, there was a terrible storm brewing and the wind was blowing very hard and the clouds up in the sky had turned gray and the rain was really pouring down hard. You could hear the thunder and see the lightening come down from the sky. All the Heart Tree Forest families ran for their homes so that they would be safe and dry from the bad storm.

There was one family in particular who every one was a little worried about and that was the Toad Family. Because you see, the Toad’s lived out on a big lily pad in a small pond which was right in the middle of Heart Tree Forest. They were also very worried because Mrs. Toad had just come home from the Heart Forest Hospital where she had two little toadettes. The toadettes were two tiny girls and they were not big enough yet to take care of themselves, so they needed to be protected. They did have an older brother Timothy, who had just met his new little sisters and he knew he had to make sure that they were always safe and happy.

The thunder storm was really making the Toad family’s lily pad roll all around the pond, and the water was starting to climb up onto the lily pad itself! The little girl toadettes were crying because they were so scared and Mr. and Mrs. Toad were trying to rock them to sleep and make sure that they were fed and stayed safe. Timothy knew the lily pad was not big enough and they needed one with a roof on top so the rain could not come in. He knew that he must be a good big brother and find a safer home for his family. Timothy knew he would have to sneak off the lily pad because his parents would not let him go out in the storm himself. So when Mr. and Mrs. Toad were feeding the toadettes, he snuck off the lily pad and starting swimming towards land. He jumped up on the muddy ground and started hopping as fast as he could to see if he could find a nice, dry safe place for his family. He was finding it hard to see because of the hard rain coming down, and had wandered out of the forest and onto a human man’s property. He had been taught to watch out for the humans because they didn’t really understand toads and the way they lived their lives. So when Timothy realized he had hopped up onto a human man’s back porch, he became a little afraid, but he knew he had to be big and brave and take care of his family. Timothy looked under the porch…and then he saw it!! He saw the most perfect place for his family to make their new home!! It was right by the porch and it was a large piece of white hard cement, he knew that from the books he read while in class at the Heart Tree Forest School that he went to. He also knew from reading those books that cement sometimes had holes in it and underneath it and it was big enough where a total toad family could live! He hopped and hopped till he was right beside the hunk of cement, the humans sometimes called a patio, and then he knew he had found the perfect place. There was a big hole on the outside of the patio and then when he went inside, it was HUGE. There was enough room for all of his family, including his grandtoads! He knew he had found the most wonderful place to live in the entire world! He was so happy that he did a triple toad flip in the air and when he came down, he almost bonked his head on the cement! He decided he better not take anymore chances, so he hopped home as fast as his little toad legs could carry him. The rain had stopped by that time, so he was sliding all around in the mud as he was hopping home and this slowed him down a little bit because he thought it was so much fun, he slid down a couple of hills on purpose! Kind of like mud sleighing! By the time he got home he was covered in mud from his eyeballs to his little toad toes. He bounced up on the lily pad and saw his mother frown as he dripped mud all over the floor. Timothy was so excited, but as he looked up at momma toad, she had a frown on her face. Then he realized his mother was angry because he had not told her he was going out in the storm. “Where have you been Timothy?” she said, “We have been worried sick about you! And you know better than to leave the house, especially in the middle of a huge thunder storm!” Timothy knew he had done the wrong thing, but his heart was in the right place. He looked up as his mother with tears in his eyes, but his leg was twitching back and forth because he was still so excited about finding them a new home. “But Mom, I have found us a brand new home! And it’s in a really safe place, and it is so nice, it’s like a mansion!” What? said Momma Toad, Timothy what on earth are you talking about?” “Mom, its right outside of Heart Tree Forest, and its right up the human’s hill and under his concrete” “it is beautiful”! Momma Toad really started to frown then, “The human man’s house? “Now Timothy, you know that is in the forbidden zone, humans capture us and put us in jars and boxes, and we can’t get out!” “That is a very dangerous place to go and you know you are going to have to go into Time Out for a WHOLE day!” “But mom! Just come and see the new home I found for us, I promise you will really love it!” Momma Toad looked at Papa Toad and said…ok Papa will go and check it out for all of us, only if you agree to abide by his decision with no tantrums or protesting”. “Yeah! Great! Way to go Mom! You will see Papa…it is Perfect for us!” shouted Timothy, “and Yes Mama I promise I will not say a word when Papa tells us his decision!”
So Timothy waited and waited for what seemed like Forever, and then he saw his Papa hopping back to the Lily Pad……he was a little afraid to look up at his Papa’s face, for fear that Papa might not have liked the new home he had found. Then he felt a big pat on the back and he looked up into Papa’s face and he had a huge grin, and said “Timothy my boy, you have found us a perfectly grand new home! I believe we will all be much more comfortable there and much safer and I say ….let’s start packing!” Boy oh Boy, now Timothy was really excited! They were moving into the home he had found all by himself! It was big enough for their entire family to live in and still have plenty of room for all their friends to visit. They could even have sleep-overs! Wow! Timothy’s mind was just whirling with all of the possibilities of things to come! He could not wait until he went back to The Heart Forest School and told everyone!
So, after a long week of packing and moving the family was finally settled into their brand new home, called The Patio. Now they could live a relaxed and safe life, where they would always keep dry and warm in the winter and nice and cool during the summer. It was the best home in the entire Universe! The Fabulous Toad family! All seemed perfect in the world!
Then all of a sudden, out of no where, ….they heard sounds that they had only read about in books at the Heart Forest Library. They sounded like really loud barking or bellowing noises….from creatures the humans called dogs. And then all of a sudden the roof of their home started shaking and they all huddled together, thinking that their brand new home was going to come crashing in all around them. What on earth was happening????????????


New Book…………………………………Part 2