The Giant Forest - COMPLETED - True to life adventures of preteens.

Unseen Help is the Real Hero

"Did you see the size of that beast?" Sybil asked.

"I heard one of them call out his name. Ceasar." Mousi inserted. "Last I saw, Mounty and Ceasar were headed to the deep side of the forest to ...," she paused. "I wonder what adventures they will have there. I wonder if we will see them again."

Aimi spoke through chuckles, "Did you see how funny those giants looked when they were trying to swat the beetles away?"

"Enough with the dancing giant commentary!" Roci scolded Aimi.

Aimi put her hand over her mouth but her eyes kept on snickering. Unable to contain herself, Aimi snorted. "I'll try. I promise. I'll try not to bring up again how utterly hilariously those gargantuan ..."

Sycamore cut her off, "Aim, please!"

"That beast made all the difference. Him and that wild crazy mountain of a dog." Sybil opined.

"They were huge in size and, of course, and in influence on the outcome. But they aren't the real heroes," Mousi suggested.

Everyone stopped walking and turned toward Mousi.

"Go on," Roci questioned, not used to being taught by a friend, but now showing a willingness to learn ... at least a little.

"The real heroes were the army corps of engineers, completely unseen, mind you, that dug the tunnels under the fields and built the dams that held back the streams. Then let the waters flow on cue at just the right amount," Mousi explained. "Way cool. And the dogs we never saw who kept away giants we never met."

"Here, here!" Everyone sung out.

"And those squadrons of butterflies," interjected Roci.

"The beetles!" Aimi added.

"Yeah, yeah, Aimi. We know, we know."

"It's all those little guys working as if they were a concert symphony that made the difference, too," Sycamore said forgetting he was supposed to stutter again. "They contributed as much if not more so than did those two big fellas."

"And Bligh. And Senti," Mousi added.

"Who?"

"Senti. The dog who stepped forward first. Unflappable. Ready to fight while everyone else was wondering what was going to happen next. She was ready to fight."

"The little dog?" Sybil asked.

"Did her actions reflect on her size?" Mousi challenged Sybil.

"Fair point. Who's 'Bye-bye?'" Sybil continued.

"Not 'bye-bye.' It's Bligh. The hairy, mangled ..."

"One-eyed mangy, crippled dog!" Roci attempted to finish Mousi's thought.

"It's not what we look like on the outside. It's the heart inside that matters. Right?" Mousi didn't pause long enough for anyone to speak. "Bligh pulled me out of the swamp after Og tossed me aside when he charged."

"Og?" Aimi asked?

"The big one. The big giant who led the charge. I named him Og. His real name is Gobble."

"They were going to eat you and you still took the time to name them?" Roci puzzled.

"I wanted to see the best in them. It just didn't work out the way I had hoped," Mousi said, while gathering her final thoughts.

She continued, "Friends; new friends working together. We were like a family is supposed to be. Families of friends finding they can depend on one another. Everyone doing their best. Stepping up. Meeting challenges. All these things lead to victory over ... even ..."

"Giants!!" All the rest finished Mousi's last sentence.

"Perhaps if we five friends were to work at deepening our friendship more we might find our way back ..." Roci proposed before being interrupted by Aimi.

"Are you feeling that heaving mist again? Not good," Aimi wondered out loud, wiping her brow at the same time.

"I hope it's not ..." Sybil said hesitantly apparently afraid to finish his thought as well.

Relieved, up ahead they all could see a waterfall.

"Hey! That's the cliff where I came over the edge!" Roci exclaimed pointing up towards the top of the hill from where the water came spilling over. "And that's where I landed. And over there is the tree that caught me."

"Perhaps if we could get back up and over the top we could find our way back," suggested Mousi.

To the left of the waterfall there was a crag-like wall. To the right it was all mud, fallen tree limbs and tall weeds. There was no option to climb up and there were no paths to be seen.

They saw movement beneath the water and to the front of where the falls met the pool of water.

"Did you see that?" Sycamore asked. "I think it was a ... I wonder was that a ... Maybe it was a ...."

From beneath the surface of the water an animal popped its head out just far enough for the Bunch to know what they would have to deal with next.