Meerkat Madness Read online

Uncle climbed down, looked him over, helped him up to his post, and got him settled. The wind blew, just a little bit. Little Dream’s branch swayed, just a little bit.

  He fell off.

  He climbed up. He wobbled.

  He fell off again.

  Luckily he fell into soft sand every time, so he wasn’t hurt at all and Uncle kept encouraging him. “Up. Straighten your back! Tail stiff and steady. That’s it! Now—paws together. Bravo! You’ve got it, boy!” he called.

  Little Dream wobbled. Tail up… Miracle! He clung on. At last—hooray!

  “Well done,” said Uncle. “Now, let’s practice our calls. Remember to keep chirping the all-clear if there’s no danger. Off you go, if you can remember it.”

  “Um, is it Ee-oo-oo Ooo-oo-oo? ” asked Little Dream timidly.

  “That’ll do nicely,” said Uncle. “Keep it up. And keep watching all around because I’ve only got the one eye, what-what!”

  Mimi had almost disappeared under the sand to the side of The Spoil, and suddenly she was up on the surface, tossing something in her paws. “Look! I’ve caught something, Uncle! Aren’t I clever? What is this? Wheee! It’s so wiggly! But I’m even more wiggly! Look!”

  “Oh, stop showing off,” came Skeema’s growly voice. “Just eat the thing.”

  Mimi made an annoyed face, but she was too hungry to argue with her brother. She dug into her snack instead and planned to get him back later.

  “Well done, Mimi. You’re learning. There’s a time to snap and a time to chew. Looks like you’ve found yourself a gecko,” called Uncle. “Eat it up. Geckos have very juicy eyeballs. Yum-yum!”

  The thought of something so delicious was too much for Little Dream, who was feeling rather excited himself. “Yyippp!-Yyippp! Yyippp!-Yyippp!” he yelled.

  Uncle Fearless stiffened and then immediately scampered among the branches like a frantic squirrel. “ACTION STATIONS!” he shrieked. “AIR ATTACK! EAGLE OWL COMING IN! BOLTHOLE! BOLTHOLE! RUN-RUN-RUN!”

  He knocked Little Dream off his perch, got behind him as soon as he hit the sand, bit his bottom, shoved him along with his nose, and zipped after Skeema and Mimi, who were both running in circles on the sand.

  “DON’T PANIC!” Uncle yelled (though there was a touch of panic in his voice). “GO LEFT! LEFT! NOT THAT WAY! BY THE ROCK! THAT’S IT! DIVE-DIVE-DIVE!” And down the bolthole everyone darted at last.

  They panted. They held their breath together to listen, but they couldn’t hear anything. They peeped out, but couldn’t see anything. There was no sign of a single bird in the wide blue sky, let alone an eagle owl!

  “I can’t see any sign of danger, Dreamer, old boy. What was it you spotted?”

  “Um, I didn’t spot anything,” muttered Little Dream “You said gecko eyeballs. I got excited.”

  “What? I… You… got EXCITED?!” spluttered Uncle. “But you were on guard! You were our eyes and ears! You mustn’t sound the Eagle owl Alarm every time you get a bit excited! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  “Nitwit!” complained Skeema. “You know eagle owls make Uncle panic!”

  “Panic? Me? I wasn’t panicking!” blustered Uncle.

  “You made me drop my gecko!” moaned Mimi.

  “Alright, you two!” growled Uncle. “You can be quiet! You didn’t put on much of a show yourselves just now! Dashing about in circles like a couple of bushbabies! What did I tell you? Always check for a bolthole before you get your heads down.”

  Skeema could see how much his careless words had upset Uncle Fearless. When he remembered how much damage the beak and claw of an eagle owl had done to him, he felt ashamed of himself. He went over and rolled at Uncle’s feet to show he was sorry.

  Uncle accepted the apology. Then he noticed that all the pups were looking crestfallen. “Ah, now look here. Come on, cheer up everyone. We’re all still alive, aren’t we? We’ve learned a few more survival skills, what-what! All good experience. Well done. Perfect! Just remember, now: ‘Danger up and danger down. Clever ’kats check all around!’ Everyone got that? Good. Breakfast here we come!”

  “Whirrrr-wee-ooo!” cried the pups with enthusiasm. Up went the rusty tip of Uncle’s tail. It waved like a flag and led them off like lightning back to their hunting ground.

  Chapter 6

  The next suntime, the pups stood with the rest of the tribe at Warm-up and they all did it very well. Secretly, Mimi and Skeema hoped for a word of praise from the King or Queen, but they got nothing but a squirt from King Chancer and icy looks from Queen Heartless. The royal pups were positively rude. They said they were of no importance at all. They called them babies and tenderpaws.

  Once again the whole tribe dashed off to the hunting grounds, leaving Uncle Fearless to teach his group their lessons by themselves near the entrance to the burrow. He decided to give Skeema and Mimi some look-out practice, so off they raced to Leaning Camelthorn and scampered to the top. Meanwhile, he took Little Dream a little way beyond The Spoil to demonstrate some of the finer points of foraging.

  Little Dream sniffed at the hot, dry white sand.

  “The food worth a chase

  Lives in a damp place,” he said, repeating one of Uncle’s lessons.

  “Quite right. And where’s the dampness? Under the surface, yes? Well, come on, young scrabbler, get your claws into it! You must be hungry.”

  Little Dream was hungry and he dug as hard as he could. The soft white sand flew like dust and soon his paw-pads felt the cool, moist, yellower stuff underneath. Uncle’s head bobbed up and down to make sure that no four-legged enemy surprised them. “Keep contact! Keep calling!” he told Skeema and Mimi, who were doing a nice job up the tree. Soon Little Dream dug out his first creepy-crawly and dug in. He loved the way it tickled going down his throat. Ahhh! He smacked his lips. He felt stronger already. Into the sand went his digging claws.

  “Did I ever tell you about the time the tribe was surrounded by Ruddertail warriors, out on the Plain of the Antelopes?” began Uncle.

  Little Dream dug away, too interested in finding food to listen.

  “Big meerkats, they were, with eee-NOR-mously long tails,” Uncle continued, as if Little Dream were fascinated. “Turned on us, they did! They outnumbered us three to one! The brutes thought they could take over one of our best boltholes. You should have heard their war cries. And the teeth on them! Yet we Sharpeyes stood firm. I remember, I got up on a mound, a tall ant hill it was… or was it a shepherd tree? Aghhh!—can’t quite remember. Anyway, whatever it was, I got up it. Frightfully high, it was. I let out a war cry of my own…”

  Up in the branches of the Camelthorn tree, without taking her eyes off the skies for a moment, Mimi giggled and whispered to Skeema. “Listen to Uncle,” she whispered. “He’s going on about his Glory Days again!”

  “I’m sure he makes it all up!” whispered Skeema.

  Uncle’s voice grew louder. “…so I said to my troops, I said, ‘Tails up for King Fearless, my men and women! Show ’em your teeth and show ’em the Sharpeye WAR DANCE!’”

  Uncle was getting really excited now. He sang and he danced, jumping up and down on his hind legs, head up, fur bristling, showing his fine yellow teeth. “The Chief of the Click-clicks was very impressed by this one too, I can tell you!” he said, really getting into it. “Oh, yes. I remember him watching me. He was terrified! He stood still as a stick, hoping his eye-protectors would keep him safe, the silly great termite heap!” Soon Uncle was wobbling his bottom about and trying to remember some of the trickier steps. “Now, let me see, how did it go?

  “Bouncy-bouncy!

  Boom-boom! Call!

  Stand-up! Tail-up!

  Make-yourself-tall!

  Head-butt! Head-butt!

  Strike like a snake!

  Spit-spit-spit-spit!

  Shaky-shake-SHAKE!”

  Mimi and Skeema nearly fell off their branches laughing.

  Luckily, Uncle Fearless didn’t notice, because just at that moment, Lit
tle Dream uncovered his first—very angry, very poisonous—scorpion.

  “Wh…wh…what do I do?” squeaked Little Dream.

  “Bravo, my young hunter!” he exclaimed. “You’ve hit the jackpot! And talking of war dances—here’s a fellow with a very interesting dance of his own, what-what!”

  Little Dream peered closely as the scorpion turned his back on him.

  “Watch out!” warned Uncle. “He’ll have you with that big stinger on his tail if you’re not quick!”

  Too late! The scorpion moved like lightning. It did a scuffling little shimmy, turned its back, and brought his nasty curved claw down right onto Little Dream’s tender nose!

  “Yow! He bit me!” screamed Little Dream.

  “Then go after him and bite him back!” roared Uncle.

  Skeema and Mimi saw what was happening and started screeching. “Eee-eee! He’s going to die!” they cried from above. “Help him, Uncle!”

  “Stay at your posts, keep the all-clear sounding, and keep a sharp look-out!” barked Uncle. “Leave our Dreamer alone to learn the scorpion dance. Come on, Little Dream, back-and-forth, back-and-forth, and dodge his stinger. Now go for him! Snap his tail off before he stings you again.”

  Little Dream rubbed his nose and looked at the angry scorpion. It skipped, skidded around like a crazy little bumper car, skipped sideways, backward, forward, all the time waving its poisoned weapon.

  “You’re all right! He can give you a nasty nip but his poison can’t kill a meerkat,” Uncle told Little Dream. “Go after him. Quick and tricky wins the game!”

  Little Dream began to growl, “Krrrr-Krrr!” He watched the scorpion closely. When he got close, the scorpion struck. This time it missed. “Ha-ha!” cried Little Dream. He moved in—and back. He stepped sideways—dodged the sting—stepped back. Forward. Missed! “Look! Watch me dancing!” cried Little Dream. And when the scorpion lunged at his nose once more, he bit off the stinger, grabbed its body in his jaws, and took a big, juicy bite. “Mmmm!” he murmured. “Yummy!”

  It was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.

  High overhead, too high just now to dive and strike, The Silent Enemy circled and noted what was going on. He could feel the tightness of the scar left by a shocking bite from the very meerkat he was watching, and the sight had spoiled the perfect smoothness of his feathers. Some lifted like porcupine bristles where they should have lain smoothly.

  Fearless stiffened and shuddered as he heard the distant, mocking hoots of the eagle owl. “Hoo-hoo yu-hu-hu-hoooh!” He guessed what they meant. “You just wait! You will pay for what you-hoo-hoo did to me-he-he! I’ll have your other eye-hi-hi!”

  Chapter 7

  The ’kats continued to work very hard at their studies. By their third suntime in the Upworld, they could all do Warm-up without wobbling or falling over—even Little Dream. They were much better at high and low guarding and foraging for themselves. They got better at grooming and searching one another for ticks and fleas, and they had learned to defend themselves from the surprise play-attacks of older pups. They looked like Sharpeyes, the king made sure they smelled like Sharpeyes, but they still didn’t really feel that they were wanted by the rest of the tribe.

  Skeema was bored. He was anxious to get away from the entrance to the burrow and do some exploring far away. “When are we going to have some adventures like you, Uncle?” he kept asking impatiently.

  “Oh, soon,” Fearless said in a vague sort of way. “Once you’ve learned all the ways of the tribe.”

  “Bor-ing!” muttered Skeema under his breath.

  By now they had wandered over to a dune of dazzling white sand. It was steep and towered over them like a great wave. It must have been formed by the sandstorm that they had heard while they were still living in the nursery chamber. Its side felt hot, even to padded little feet, and so soft that it ran down like water at the least disturbance. Playfully, Little Dream began to burrow, pulling away like crazy with his front paws.

  “Pack it in!” cried Skeema, turning his bad temper on him.

  “Don’t be so silly, Dreamie!” snapped Mimi, joining in. “There’s nothing in there. It’s much too dry for foraging!”

  “You say, Uncle!” said Little Dream. “You say, No, my subject! Stand still, I command you! Obey your king! Stop that digging or you will feel the points of my teeth!”

  Uncle couldn’t help smiling just a little. “Now look here, Dreamie, old boy,” he said. “Be sensible and, er, let’s all move along and find a bit of shade. It’s much too hot to…”

  He noticed that Little Dream had stopped listening and was digging more frantically, if anything. “Come along, now, Little Dream!” Uncle said. “We mustn’t stay out in the open too long. Do as I say, now. Seriously, this is a command. I’m ordering you now…”

  Little Dream’s head came up for air. “I can smell something!” he panted excitedly.

  “Leave it, Dreamie,” said Uncle. “There’s a good ’kat.”

  “Something big,” said Little Dream. “Look!”

  At first, just a corner of the something came to light. It was shiny pink and had a hard shell. Little Dream’s sharp claws could only skid over the surface of it, making a hollow sound.

  “Hey! Dreamer’s found a tortoise!” said Mimi, excitedly. “Let Mimi help you! Me! me!”

  She tried to push Skeema out of the way but he was eager to dig too. So was Uncle Fearless. It was time to use his king voice. “Stand back!” he commanded.

  Instantly, the pups obeyed. “Stand guard!” he ordered. They stood to attention, glancing about like the Old Guard. Uncle took a deep breath and hauled sand like the master-digger he was. “If it’s a tortoise, it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen, what-what!” he puffed, as he kept digging. “I need help here. Bob and dig, bob and dig!”

  “Aye, aye, Your Majesty!” said Little Dream. This was just the way he wanted life to be.

  Many claws make light work and in no time at all, whatever it was lay big, oblong, pink, and strange, sideways on the stony sand.

  “Is it just a big shell, Uncle?” asked Mimi. “Or do we have to turn it over to get at the meat?” She brushed accidentally against one of the round spinners on its feet, which made a dull whirring sound as it whizzed around. She yelped and jumped back.

  She couldn’t help it. She let out the general alarm call: “Wai-wow-wik-wak!”

  Skeema laughed. “Don’t make such a fuss, Mimi!” he scoffed. “It won’t trample you. It’s not really an elephant, is it, Uncle?”

  Little Dream placed a paw on the shell. His eyes were shining. “Vrrroom-vroom!” he said.

  Chapter 8

  Uncle walked gravely around the large pink object that Little Dream had discovered. His nose and his one eye got busy.

  “Hmmm. Look at the pinkness of it,” he murmured. “Why is it pretending to be an elephant? Ridiculous! There aren’t any pink elephants in the Kingdom of the Sharpeyes.” He sniffed deeply. “Aha, I can smell something! It’s very faint, but I’m sure there’s a hint of Blah-blah scent here,” he declared. “And where have I seen round spinners like this before?” he wondered.

  “The sandstorm!” exclaimed Little Dream. “We heard that vroom-vroom noise!”

  “So we did, by all that’s juicy!” cried Uncle. “So that was the sound we heard on the night of the storm! The Blah-blahs must have been using a Vroom-vroom to get away from the storm!” He had a thought. “Wait! Keep alert!” Suddenly he was racing up to the top of the ridge again.

  He moved along it, bobbing up and down, twisting his neck to point his one eye, always on the look-out. He could see Black Thorn Hill where some of the tribe were going about their business. Some were still foraging and others were taking a nap in the shade. But Uncle had something else on his mind.

  “I’ve found tracks!” he called down to the pups, “…and here! Tracks, side by side! You’re right, Little Dream! A Vroom-vroom certainly did come along this way. But why here? They usua
lly stay over by the Salt Pans on the far side of the kingdom. There have never been any of them this close to the birth-burrow!”

  “Perhaps it got lost in the storm—because of all the flying sand and stones,” suggested Skeema.

  “Good thinking, my clever young ’kat!” exclaimed Uncle and scrambled down the slope again. “Let me take a closer look at this thing. Mind out, Little Dream. That’s a royal command, by the way!” He gave him a wink. He hadn’t felt so lively and excited for ages.

  Mimi had found a ring sticking out from one end of the shell. She tugged at it playfully. A long strap stretched out and then snapped back. She ran behind Uncle for protection.

  “How big are Vroom-vrooms?” asked Skeema, wondering if this was one.

  “Oh, massive!” said Uncle. “Much bigger than this. The ones I saw, you could get a whole tribe of four or five Blah-blahs inside them.”

  “Well, maybe this shell is a special nursery chamber!” said Skeema. “Maybe the Vroom-vroom we heard was carrying it to a safe place. But then it dropped it by mistake and the storm covered it with sand!”

  “A nursery chamber… of course! Brilliant!” exclaimed Uncle.

  “But there’s no way in or out of it,” Mimi said, peeping out from behind Uncle. “If you want to know what I think… I think it’s an elephant’s egg.”

  “Hmm. Let’s give it a shake and see if we can hear anything,” suggested Uncle. “Lend a paw, there! Shaky-shake-shake!” Something inside it went click, then…

  CRACK

  Suddenly it split open right down the middle and its insides flew everywhere.

  It was quite a while before Fearless dared to peek out from under the bush where he and the ’kats had dived for cover. He was relieved to see that nothing was moving on the sand dune. He felt the pups pushing impatiently behind him.

  “Hurry up, Uncle!” said Mimi. “I’m starving! Let’s go and see if the inside of an elephant’s egg is worth eating.”