It had been another hot summer day in Elmwood. The sun had set and the searing, sticky heat was now replaced with the cooler balm of early night. The moon was full and had settled high in the cloudless sky, casting an eerie glow across the hills and the surrounding landscape. The conditions were perfect for a night adventure.
B-Jay was feeling more than a little apprehensive because, although he was looking forward to seeing his friends again, he had never ventured out on his own after dark. He reasoned with himself that fear and excitement often go together when facing the unknown, and even though he was anxious at having a new experience, that was no reason to stay in the familiar comfort of the garage where he felt safe and secure. No, he would steel his resolve and go bravely into the unknown. After all, his friends were expecting him and would soon be waiting at the cottonwood tree.
Seconds later, he found himself boldly driving along the road with his lights shining brightly on everything that lay before him. He never looked back and focused on what lay ahead. Despite his apprehension, B-Jay took his time getting to the tree. Not because he didn’t want to have an accident, but more so because he was aware that many different animals inhabit the night hours and may cross his path unnoticed. He did not wish to hurt them.
Minutes later, he rounded the bend and inhaled sharply as he caught sight of the many glaring eyes that reflected back at him from the darkness. He hoped the eyes belonged to his friends. His fear was assuaged, and he was relieved when he noticed two of the eyes were rotating in a rather large circular motion. That had to be Digger Bo, tumbling as usual, even in the darkness. B-Jay tooted and flashed his lights.
As he pulled up at the cottonwood, he could clearly see his friends in the beam of his headlights. Aruna the wise, Great Horned owl, whose eyes seemed much larger in the moonlight, was perched on one of the lower branches, his head turning round in a rather unnatural fashion as he scoped the world around him. Maxwell, the rather large St. Bernard dog, was busy following his nose, sniffing out the myriad of scents that it seemed existed everywhere. As soon as he had tracked one, he was off again in search of another.
Cressida, the overly proud cat, was busy pruning, sat calmly on her haunches at the base of the tree. Zippo the ant was spinning around on his hands, throwing his baseball hat upwards at timely intervals while practicing his breakdancing, and Digger Bo the badger was making everyone dizzy with his energetic tumbling. They all exchanged greetings, gathering together eagerly, before alighting to their usual positions in the car.
"So, do we have a plan for our nighttime adventure?" enquired Zippo as he proceeded to moonwalk backwards along the length of the dashboard. He startled everyone when he ended his dance routine with a loud shrieking, "Oowwwww!"
B-Jay remembered that they had said something on their previous adventure about telling scary stories, and given that he was already feeling slightly uncomfortable, it seemed prudent to make the most of the current atmosphere.
"I think that we have the perfect conditions for telling scary stories," he exclaimed. "Unless, of course, you are all too afraid, which I quite understand."
"Yes—let’s do that!" hollered Zippo before anyone else could respond. "And as you mentioned it first, B-Jay, you can begin." Again, he finished the sentence with a heart-stopping screech whilst dropping to his knees in yet another dance pose. "Oooowwww!"
"Are you going to do that every time you speak?" enquired Cressida with a very disapproving look on her face.
"Sorry!" Zippo replied. "I have been listening to Michael Jackson all week. Eeeeee Heeeeee—Owwwww!"
B-Jay hadn’t expected to go first and, in truth, he hadn’t even thought of whether he had or knew any scary stories. He thought deeply for a minute and decided to tell the tale of when he was stranded, having lost a wheel. It had been the scariest moment of his life and seemed, therefore, appropriate. He hadn’t given it a thought that everybody knew the story, having helped him retrieve the wheel, but they let him tell the story while they listened quietly. Having witnessed the distress that B-Jay had shown that day, they all reasoned that it was, for him, a very scary experience.
"I had a scary dream one day," said Maxwell the dog, going next. "I had just had the most wonderful breakfast and was curled up on my blanket. I must have fallen asleep because, before I knew it, I was dreaming."
"There’s a surprise," mumbled Cressida under her breath, not loud enough for anyone else to hear. "A dog falling asleep after eating—who knew!"
Maxwell continued, "In my dream, I remember feeling so hungry. I was hungrier than I have ever been, and I have had many hungry moments in my life, but this was my hungriest hunger ever. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any more, my master filled my food bowl with the best food I have ever tasted. It was so good, and I was so hungry, that when I had finished the food, I proceeded to eat the food bowl as well. Suddenly, it occurred to me that if I had no bowl for my master to put the food in, then I would not be fed again. At that point, I remember waking up trembling. It was scary."
"Scary dreams can be very scary," acknowledged Digger Bo, who was eager to go next. "My story is not about a dream," he stated. "My story is even more terrifying because I was awake. One day I was tumbling. As you all know, I like to tumble all the time—it makes me happy. But, on this particular day in question, I decided to tumble more than I have ever tumbled. I wanted to see if I could tumble a new record amount of tumbles, so I was tumbling profusely, with every muscle in my body. I tumbled so much that I had to stop to catch my breath. Well, as I was catching my breath, I noticed that everything around me was spinning and spinning while I was not. I suddenly feared that all my tumbling had made the world spin in the opposite direction. I did not know what to do, as I was frozen with the thought that from that moment on, everything in the world would be tumbling except me."
Suddenly Cressida erupted into very uncharacteristic laughter as she realised that the badger had merely scared himself by making himself dizzy. Digger Bo was pleased to have made her laugh and began tumbling again.
"Well, if you find that story amusing," said Maxwell, "I am going to assume that your story will be quite something to hear."
Cressida was more concerned with her pruning to respond to the dog’s comments but decided to say something despite her apathy.
"I could," she said, "tell you about the day I ran out of cat spit—which as all cats will tell you is a magical substance—and feared that my fur would end up matted and dull, like a dog’s. I could even go so far as to tell you a story about a cat having nine lives being a gross over-exaggeration. I could tell you all this and more, but right now someone else needs to tell their tale as I am too busy." She then carried on with her grooming, ignoring their perplexed, confused expressions.
Zippo whispered something to B-Jay, who suddenly turned out his headlights, leaving all around them pitch black. Seconds later, he turned his lights back on, and a shape resembling a camping tent appeared on the base of the tree as Zippo contorted his hands, creating the shadow expertly.
"I am going to tell you about the day the aliens came," he said, manifesting different shadows on the base of the tree as he told it. "It was a normal day in the park. Normal, that was, until a triangular-shaped UFO suddenly appeared very near to our ant colony. Many aliens appeared from the craft and began shining bright beams of light at the ground. They were giants, and they made a deep droning sound that I assume was some form of communication. None of the ants that were there that day understood what they were saying, and we were not sure what they were looking for with their beams of light. Seeing as ants are curious, we gathered closer to the ship. It was then that the ground began to shake and tremble, and all around us we heard the sound of ants screaming as many large alien limbs squished them into the ground, crushing the life out of them. The colony flew into a state of panic, and we began to flee quickly in all directions. That was the day I lost my aunt, my great uncle, and several cousins. The colony hasn’t recovered from that scary alien invasion, and several ants now refuse to leave the safety of the colony."
As he finished his tale, B-Jay turned out the headlights again and everyone remained quiet as Zippo returned to the dashboard.
"That was quite a tale," said Aruna the wise, Great Horned owl. "Which leaves just one more tale to be told." He paused before he began. "This tale is called the Solstice Sun and was something that I endured as a very tiny, not-so-wise owlet. My very knowledgeable father once told me about how the sun and the moon are joined together by cosmic string. When the sun is at its highest position in the sky, it begins to be pushed back towards the ground by a very powerful force called gravity. As the sun is joined to the moon by cosmic string, when the sun is pushed downwards, so the moon is pulled upwards. This same effect happens then to the moon, causing it to fall and the sun to rise. And so the cycle happens every day. Well, this was not scary until my first summer solstice when I sat there as I did every day, perched upon my usual branch, waiting to watch the sun go down. I waited and I waited until my internal clock told me that something was wrong. It should have happened by now. The moon should have appeared, but the sun was still there in the sky. I grew confused. I looked at the sun, wondering if maybe the cosmic string had got tangled somehow. I then began to fear that maybe the sun had got stuck between two branches of a distant tree and was unable to break free. It was most disconcerting, and I feared the moon might never appear again. I started to cry. Then my father explained to me that the summer solstice was the longest day of the year and that the sun stayed out later in the evening. Obviously, now I am much wiser, but back then it was a scary moment for me."
They all agreed that the last tale must be true, as the time it had taken to tell all their tales had seen the moon disappear to be replaced by the early morning twilight. Though none of them could quite see the cosmic string that he had spoken about.
B-Jay exclaimed, "I have come to realise that we all have fears and scary moments in our lives. What has been most revealing is that what is scary for one person may not be scary to another. I think that we should have another nighttime adventure, as this has been another most memorable time. For now, though, I must be going home."
They all agreed and said their goodbyes before heading off in different directions. B-Jay closed the garage door behind him and, although he was feeling tired, he wasn’t sure that he could fall asleep immediately as he was still pondering the tales that he had heard. The sun rose shortly after, just as he drifted off to sleep.