Roo's Tale

Roo’s Tale.



From the first time he popped his head out of mamma’s pouch, she knew Joey was going to be trouble.

Joey wriggled and squirmed and punched and kicked until one day finally POP he landed in the lush green grass between Mamma Roo’s long back feet.



Wobbling to and fro, Joey took a deep breath and sprang forward. He did a little figure eight in front of mamma, lost his balance, fell over, then dived headfirst back into the safety of her warm cosy pouch.

Upside down in a pouch with legs hanging out was not much fun. Joey wriggled and squirmed and turned himself around so that he could jump back out and try again. This time he hopped around in the opposite direction, but he still lost his balance, fell over, picked himself up, hopped around again, fell over again and jumped headfirst back into the pouch.

Joey was so embarrassed. His legs stayed poking out the top, his head buried deep in the bottom of mamma’s protective pouch. A kookaburra laughed from the nearby gumtrees.



‘It’s alright dear’ he heard Mamma Roo say. ‘You’ll get the hang of it. Your tail has to grow a little more before it can touch the ground to help keep your balance.’

Each day Joey tried again and again, eager to explore the world around him. As he grew, his tail grew and so did his confidence. The small figure eights in front of mamma became bigger till he was game to circle all the way around her.

The circles grew bigger and bigger. Joey hopped further and further away from mamma, but mamma always followed. She would pretend to be eating a new patch of grass, all the while keeping a keen eye on her little Joey.

The mob Joey and Mamma Roo belonged to followed the same path every day. Up hills, along ridges, down through thick bush, across a creek bed that if they were lucky had a little water lying in it and up into open paddocks full of lovely fresh mown grass. This was where the head of the mob, big Kanga Roo, was always alert and on the lookout. He told Joey it was dangerous and no place to foolishly play.

But Joey didn’t listen. Joey was curious. Strange things sat in that paddock and lovely smells wafted across the breeze and tickled his nose. Joey had to get closer.



One morning as the sun rose over the hill and the dew glistened on the grass, while all was still and quiet, Joey bravely crept towards the outer building. He stopped and chewed on a bit of grass, scratched his tummy, looked around and hopped a little closer.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Joey saw a movement on the verandah of the main house. Something furry was standing there, wagging its tail, watching him; its head leant to one side.

They stood staring at each other for what seemed like hours, then mamma broke the spell when she shouted, ‘DOG’ and the mob took off in full flight. Joey jumped, turned and raced off after the rest of the mob, the dog in hot pursuit, now making a terrible yapping noise.



The mob and Joey bounded across the paddock, leaped the first barbed wire fence, hopped over the gravel driveway and on over the next wire fence to the safety of the neighbouring paddock. The little dog was still yapping and wagging it’s tail but at least it didn’t follow through the fences.



‘Stay away from dogs!’ demanded big daddy Kanga Roo. ‘They can be very dangerous!’

Mamma Roo’s heart was pounding, but Joey didn’t understand why? The dog seemed so small and harmless to him. It didn’t even chase them very far.



A few days later as the mob returned on their usual route, the smells from the house became irresistible to Joey. His nose tingled and twitched. His stomach rumbled. He just had to get a taste. Joey stood on his hind quarters, stretched as tall as he could and sniffed the air. Floating gently on the breeze was an amazing indescribable aroma. He crept a little closer.  Looked carefully around and crept closer still.

There was no sign of the dog that Joey could see. All appeared safe enough. He hopped into the front garden and stood amongst the native bottle brush and grevillea.  From here he could see exactly where all the wonderful smells were coming from.



Smoke wafted from a BBQ that stood at one end of the verandah, something sizzled inside. In the middle was a timber table covered in all sorts of strange and breathtaking delights. Joey could resist no longer. He took in a deep lungful of magnificent air and hopped boldly right onto the front of the wide verandah.

He reached out with a tentative paw and brushed away the protective fly netting. His nose twitched as he sniffed each of the foods. In the centre of the spread was a huge beautifully decorated cake. Joey could defy the ache in his stomach no longer. He reached out and took a swipe across the top of the cake. It was so soft and gooey. It oozed between his claws. The taste was like no sensation he had ever known before, his tongue tingled as he eagerly licked his paw. Just as he swiped a second pawful there came a cry from inside the house.



‘Get out of there you damn Roo!’ The door flung open, a woman came running out waving her hands. Joey took flight as fast as he could, across the paddock, through the line of eucalypts, over the creek bed, on up the hill, over the fence and into the next property. He stopped to catch his breath when his mother shouted yet again.



‘Dog!’

Joey turned expecting to see the white fluffy thing following, but no, this dog was running fast from the opposite direction. It looked much bigger, meaner, faster and had no intentions of stopping. The chase was on.

The mob raced up the hill and along the ridge. Joey had trouble keeping up. His little legs couldn’t bound as far or as long as the others yet. He looked behind, the dog was getting closer, it  barked louder. He put in all his effort to catch up to mamma but just couldn’t quite reach her. They raced down the other side of the mountain, through thick bush, splashed across a running creek, round the side of a man made dam and on into open grassland, but still the dog continued to pursue.



Eventually they came to a road. One by one the mob hopped straight across, jumped the next wire fence and came to a halt in the long grass. As Joey went to follow he heard an almighty roar. He glanced up and froze. A car came speeding around the corner. Joey panicked. He hopped in one direction, then the other. He didn’t know which way to go, ahead towards the car, or back towards the dog. In a split second the car was upon him. It screeched and swerved across the road narrowly missing Joey’s back legs. He lost his balance and fell over.



‘Joey!’ He heard his mother scream.  Joey picked himself up and gingerly hopped across the road to his mother anxiously waiting in the paddock. The car slowly drove off. Joey spun around and saw the dog lower it’s head, turn and start for home.



‘You silly roo!’ Mamma scolded.  ‘You are so lucky to be alive.  Didn’t we warn you enough about dogs?’

‘Hope that taste of cake was worth it,’ was all Kanga Roo said as he munched on a mouthful of wet juicy grass.