Adventures Of Ranger Rick - fiction

Ranger Rick, Jan, 1999 by Jody Marshall

The friends visit a "home, sweet home" in the tropics.

"Mmmm! This is my favorite food in the whole world," said Elmo Armadillo, slowly licking melted chocolate from his front paws.

"Maybe you should take it easy on the sweet stuff, Elmo," said Ranger Rick Raccoon. "That's the fifth candy bar you've had today."

"Yup," said Elmo. But he wasn't really paying attention. He was too busy eating.

Rick, Elmo, and Scarlett Fox were hiking along a rainforest trail in Costa Rica. "I'm so glad your friends invited us for a visit, Rick," said Scarlett. "It's great to get back here. And it will be fun to meet your pals. That is, if we ever find them!"

Just then a loud racket filled the forest. Howls, growls, and roars seemed to tumble out of the trees and surround the animals.

Elmo was so startled that he nearly choked on his chocolate bar. Scarlett froze and glanced at Rick with alarm. But the raccoon just smiled and looked up into the treetops.

Soon a troop of howler monkeys appeared overhead. Two of them swung down toward the other animals and plopped onto a nearby branch.

"Rick! My favorite raccoon!" said one of the monkeys, grinning and reaching down to shake hands with Rick. "What took you so long? Did you guys stop to play a game of tick-tack-slow with a sloth?"

"Nah, that's not it," said the other monkey. "They took a side trip through Poke-lahoma." The monkeys threw back their heads and howled with laughter.

Rick smiled at them and said, "Scarlett and Elmo, meet Holly and Harley Howler Monkey."

The animals greeted each other. Then Holly noticed what Elmo was eating. "Ooooh, chocolate!" she squealed. "We think chocolate candy is dandy! Right, Harley?"

Harley nodded with excitement. "That's for sure. In fact, around here, we might not be able to live without it."

Elmo folded his arms across his chest. "See? Harley and Holly say we can't live without chocolate. That means we should eat a lot of it every day to stay healthy." The armadillo tossed the rest of his candy bar into his mouth and reached into his backpack for another one.

"I don't think that's exactly what Harley and Holly meant, Elmo," said Rick. He scratched his head. "Uh, what did you mean?" he asked.

The monkeys laughed. "Come on, follow us," said Holly. "We'll show you."

The friends walked along the trail while Harley and Holly traveled through the trees above them. After a while Elmo started to lag behind. "Oww," he moaned, "my stomach hurts." With that, he crawled down between some nearby rocks and curled up into a ball.

"Poor little guy," said Harley. "Chocolate candy sure is yummy, but eating too much made his tummy feel crummy! Hee-hee--oh, sorry, Elmo." But the armadillo was feeling too terrible to care what anyone was saying.

Scarlett sighed impatiently. "We might as well leave him here and let him get over this," she said. "He'll be safe, jammed down in those rocks till we get back."

Rick nodded, but he looked worried. "OK, but we probably shouldn't be gone too long." The others agreed. Then the four of them set off down the trail.

The friends hadn't been hiking very long when they stopped short. Not far in front of them, the trail ended suddenly--and so did the rainforest! Trees that had once been standing tall now sprawled this way and that on the ground. Somewhere in the distance, a chain saw buzzed.

Scarlett shook her head slowly. "Why, Rick? Why are people cutting down the forest?"

"I don't know," answered the raccoon. "Maybe they're logging the forest for wood. Or maybe they're turning it into pasture or farmland."

Holly and Harley looked over their shoulders nervously. "I've got a bad feeling about this place," said Holly. "Let's go."

As the animals turned to leave, the sound of chain saws seemed to surround them. "We'd better get back to Elmo," cried Rick. "He could be in big trouble!"

The animals dashed through the forest. When they got close to Elmo, they could hear a chain saw roaring nearby. Then the sound stopped. An eerie silence hung in the air for a moment, followed by loud cracks and snaps. "Eeeeaaaah!" went a terrifying scream.

"Elmo!" shouted Rick. Up ahead, a giant tree had slowly begun to topple. And under the tree stood Elmo, too scared to move.

Before anyone could blink, Scarlett took off and raced toward Elmo. Then she lunged and pushed the armadillo with all her might.

CrrrAAASH! went the tree in a giant cloud of dust and flying leaves. Somewhere beneath a pile of broken branches were Scarlett and Elmo.

Rick and the two monkeys ran over to the fallen tree. Just as they began pawing through the limbs and leaves, Scarlett and Elmo poked their heads up.

"You're safe!" yelled Rick happily.

"Gosh, that was close," said Elmo, crawling out of the mess. "Thanks, Scarlett."

Scarlett smiled and patted the armadillo on the back. "Don't mention it," she said.

When it was clear that everyone was OK, Harley looked at Holly and said, "We'll have to get to the farm another way."

"Right," said Holly, beckoning to the gang to follow them.