Adventures Of Ranger Rick - Fiction

Ranger Rick, Feb, 2000 by Nora Steiner Mealy

The gang finds plenty of sun and surprises in the Florida Everglades.

Ranger Rick Raccoon, Scarlett Fox, and Punky Porcupine were one happy bunch of hikers. "No more snow! Nothing but fun in the sun!" they chanted as they made their way through southern Florida one winter morning. They were headed for a wild and wonderful place called the Everglades. But Boomer Badger, as usual, was in a different mood.

Around Boomer's waist was an enormous, inflatable pool toy in the shape of a pink flamingo.

"Why don't you carry your dumb ol' flamingo yourself? I feel ridiculous!" Boomer grouched loudly to Punky.

"You know very well why I can't carry it, Boomer!" Punky protested. "I might pop it! I always smooth down my quills verrry carefully before floating in it!"

Scarlett interrupted the bickering with a question to Rick. "When do you think we'll get there? It seems like we've seen nothing but people's houses for miles and miles!" Her good mood was beginning to fade.

Rick shook his head. "I don't remember all these houses the last time we were in the Everglades," he said. "This area used to be covered in wetlands!"

The animals entered a neighborhood that looked brand new. Large houses sat along the bank of a canal--a waterway with perfectly straight sides. The animals walked along the canal until they found a tiny beach.

"Let's stay here! I'm not walking another step carrying this thing," announced Boomer as he plopped down on the beach and shoved the flamingo into the water.

Rick, Scarlett, and Boomer stretched out on the warm sand. Punky was soon happily floating in her pool toy. She closed her eyes slowly.

"Ahhh! This is nice," she sighed happily. "I wonder when a flock of real flamingos will fly in and land here?"

Punky heard a gentle splash in the water and opened her eyes, expecting to see a graceful, pink bird. Instead, in front of her was a wood stork--a huge, white wading bird with a grayish, bald head.

"What are you staring at?" asked the annoyed stork. "Can't a bird look for a little food in peace? It's hard enough to find a meal these days!"

Punky sat upright. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Everything's just perfect here . . . uh, isn't it?"

"Not quite, at least not for us wild animals," the stork said. "This is the Everglades, one of the biggest wetlands in North America! But people drained more than half of the marshes and swamps that used to be here. Then they built towns and cities and planted crops instead!"

"But this canal is nice," said Punky.

"What's nice about it? It was dug to drain water from the marsh--and now all we have around here are fancy houses and pretty lawns. Sure, there's still water in the canal, but it isn't as fit for fish as a marsh is. And that makes it harder for me to find lunch!"

Suddenly a loud commotion arose from the shore. Punky looked over and saw Rick, Scarlett, and Boomer in the backyard of a house, yelling excitedly. Punky rushed to her friends with the flamingo still wrapped around her waist.

An alligator was creeping up on a small puppy tied to a tree. Rick, Scarlett, and Boomer were shouting at the alligator to stop.

Punky thought fast. She took off the toy flamingo and waved it in front of the alligator.

The great reptile looked up, grabbed the toy with his sharp teeth, and walked off toward the canal. Air hissed from a hole in the toy as the gator slipped into the water.

"Whew! That was close!" said Scarlett. "Punky, you're a hero!"

"Why would an alligator pick on someone's cute little pet?" asked Punky.

"At least we won't see that plastic flamingo again," teased Boomer.

"Wanna bet?" snapped the porcupine. "I think we should go find that mean old alligator and tell him to pick on someone his own size! And," she added, "maybe we'll get my poor wounded flamingo back."

"What, are you crazy?" asked Boomer. "That gator could eat you in one gulp if he felt like it, quills and all. In fact, he could eat ALL of us in one gulp, so leave me out of this."

Rick didn't care much about the silly old toy flamingo, but he did want to know more. Why would an alligator be living in such a place? And why would he be so interested in munching little puppies? "Come on, Boomer," he said. "Let's just go see if we can talk to that old gator. We won't get too close."

Boomer didn't want to seem afraid, so he agreed to go along.

The four friends found an old canoe and started paddling after the alligator. "There he goes!" shouted Punky, pointing down the canal. They could see the floppy, deflated flamingo still in the gator's mouth.

The animals paddled furiously, slowly gaining on the swimming reptile. But suddenly the gator disappeared. With hardly a ripple, it had sunk beneath the surface.

"Uh-oh," moaned Scarlett. "I don't like this at all. Being close to a gator is scary enough, but being close to one you can't see is even worse."

The animals stopped paddling and fell silent. Their eyes bugged out as they stared into the dark water all around them. I KNEW this was a dumb idea! Boomer thought.

"Perhaps I can help you," said a deep voice from behind the canoe. The four animals jumped so high they nearly fell into the canal. There was the alligator, and around its neck was the deflated flamingo.