Merry Meerkat Madness Read online

  The easy part of Skeema’s plan was sorting out the nests. One was securely attached to the bough, but it needed some mending. Ostrich feathers worked nicely for that. The other had to be tied comfortably onto Uncle’s back. Fledgie was an excellent weaver and a quick worker and he showed the others how to help with twigs and feathers so that everything was tight and safe and cozy.

  The hard part was fastening the bough to Biff’s tail feathers.

  He couldn’t see the point of this at all, so Skeema had to explain it to him several times. “You’re speedy!” he reminded Biff, without upsetting him by mentioning that he was only a little bit slower than a cheetah. “You said yourself that we have to get Chickie to its mother fast, right? But you can’t carry the egg yourself. So this way, we can sit on it and keep it warm and safe, and you can run and pull us all to Sprintina!”

  “And we can also take back all the shiny things that the jackals stole from the Tick-tock cubs!” said Little Dream impatiently.

  “They were so nice to Sprintina,” said Mimi. “She might not still be alive if they hadn’t carried water to her.”

  “Oh, all right!” agreed Biff grudgingly. “But what if we meet an enemy? Tell me that! I won’t be able to outrun him if I’m dragging a branch behind me, you know!”

  “Allow me to present you with a special anti-predator device…” said Skeema, looping something over Biff’s head.

  And so Biff set off toward the east, dragging behind him a most unusual sleigh and wearing around his neck a string of bells that went jing-jing-jing-a-ling all the way home. Uncle sat astride the main branch, carrying his nestful of shiny objects. Behind him, the kits formed themselves into a knot, gripping the egg and keeping it warm and hanging on for dear life with whatever spare paws and claws they could muster. If Biff was worried that he would soon get lost and start running in circles, he shouldn’t have been. Fledgie knew exactly where to go and he led the way. Sometimes he flew just in front of the ostrich and sometimes he took a short rest on his head.

  Biff trotted on without stopping, past grazing herds of giraffe and gemsbok, red hartebeest, and blue wildebeest that turned their heads in amazement to see the large amount of dust Biff raised as he ran. A zebra and dik-dik darted away in panic, thinking that Biff might be some new animal they had never seen before.

  On raced Biff, so eager to reach his goal that he narrowly missed a pride of lions guarding a cub. One moment they were all stretched out and yawning, the next, showing their teeth and growling ferociously.

  “What do I do? What do I do?” cried Biff, rolling his eyes in terror.

  “We’re fine; trot on,” called Fearless, who had broken off a springy twig to use as a whip and waved it at the lions.

  “It’s the Three Beauties!” cried Little Dream. “And look—there’s our friend Griff! Hello, Griff! Sorry, can’t stop!”

  “Just give ’em a jingle and giddy-up!” urged Uncle, cracking the whip. “Don’t worry, they won’t bite you—they owe the kits a favor. I’ll tell you a story, if you like, about how Skeema, Mimi, and Little Dream once rescued that young cub. Well, it all began…”

  But Biff, who had quickened his pace and was shaking the jingly bells like crazy, never heard a word of Uncle’s narrative.

  They traveled so rapidly that when they caught sight of the white walls of the Tick-tocks’ upside-down burrow, it was still Christmas morning. The Really Mads narrowed their eyes and peered through the choking red dust, clinging grimly to their precious gifts and trying to catch a glimpse of Sprintina. There was not a sign of her.

  “Perhaps she’s run off!” the kits whispered to one another. “Maybe she’s gone the other way looking for Chickie!”

  “I’m sure she’s around here somewhere, matey!” chirped Fledgie. “But all I can see at the moment are sand dunes!”

  “Whuh-where is she?” panted Biff. “Surely -huh!-she can’t miss us-hah!-what with all this-heh!-jing-jing and dust!”

  “Don’t just jingle, matey; give a call!” suggested Fledgie.

  “Can’t!” gasped Biff. “I’m exhausted. No breath left!”

  “Leave it to me,” said the little bird cheerily. He opened his throat and boomed out, “Woooooo- ooooo-OOOOHoooooooo!”

  And with that, just three or four leaps in front of them, a pile of sand began to stir and rise! Back boomed a ghostly reply, not so loud and lusty, but definitely pleased-to-see-you. WOOOO-hooooo!

  “Wup-wup!” cried Uncle for joy. “There she blows! A sandy-colored sight for sore eyes! How about that for camouflage, eh? Whoa now, Biff! Whoa-up there!”

  “Amazing!” cried Skeema admiringly and gave Snap-snap a “SKWEEE” to celebrate.

  Biff was unhitched from the sand-sleigh in the flick of a lizard’s tongue. He stood as still as an out-of-breath ostrich possibly can. Sprintina approached him shyly and silently, bobbing her neck. Nothing seemed to happen for a while. Everything froze. Then all of a sudden, Biff burst into bloom like a wonderful black and white flower! He puffed out his plumes and spread his wings wide to greet his lost love. Then down he went, kneeling before her, bowing very low, folding up his neck. She curtseyed and fluttered and twisted, and finally she spoke. “Is it really you, my brave Biff? We must dance!”

  Biff suddenly stretched up to his full height. “We’ll dance later, my dear!” he boomed excitedly. “First, you need to SIT.”

  “B-but I’ve been lying here for I don’t know how long,” she said. “Why would I need to sit?”

  “Because we have a present for you,” said Biff. He turned to the kits, who remained at their post on the bird’s nest, clinging together in a tight group hug. As one, they jumped back and showed her what they were hiding. And there it was—TA-DAHHH!—the egg.

  “I don’t believe it! It couldn’t be…” Sprintina crouched down to bring her beak level with the shell and gave it a tap. “Are you in there, my chickie?” she whispered. “Are you really alive? It’s Mom here. Won’t you come out and see me?”

  The ears of the Really Mads picked up a faint “chee” or “peep.”

  “What was that?” whispered Sprintina. “Are you cheeping to me, chickie? Are you?”

  The “chee-chee-chee” became a tiny bit louder, just loud enough for all the Really Mads to hear. Then the egg gave a tiny little shiver. It wasn’t much, but Sprintina gave a hoot of pure joy, squatted and plonked herself firmly down on it. She gave a contented wiggle to settle her feathers and fixed herself in the brooding position. She closed her eyes in order to give the egg her full attention. “Not much longer to wait now, Biff,” she promised.

  “Well done, everybody. Good show! Mission accomplished, I’d say.”

  “Not quite, Uncle,” said Mimi. “The Tick-tock cubs. Remember?”

  “Oh my goodness, yes! How forgetful of me. And here I am with the nest on my back and everything! Congratulations, Biff and Sprintina. And goodbye! Sorry to rush off, but we really must get going. So, are you ready, Really Mads? Let’s finish the job!”

  “WHAT!” boomed Biff in a rage. “Of all the SAUCY, SHAMELESS, RUDE, INCONSIDERATE…”

  “N-now, look here, old chap,” stammered Uncle. “What has brought on this outburst?”

  “Don’t you ‘old chap’ me, you, you, you QUADRUPED!” raged Biff.

  “B-but…”

  Biff cut him off. “You and your MEASLY little mob cross an unknown stretch of the desert to find me!” he cried. “You protect my last surviving egg from a pack of stinking NEST-ROBBERS! You come up with a brilliant plan to transport that egg, and you reunite me with my favorite wife when I thought I would never see her again! And now you intend to go off BY YOURSELVES to bring joy to the very Tick-tock cubs who brought life-saving water to Sprintina? DISGRACEFUL! Have you no thought for my HONOR? How could you THINK of leaving without asking me to assist in some way?”

  “Y-you mean, you want to come and help us?” asked Uncle, scratching his head in amazement. “But I thought you’d prefer to stay here wit
h your wife and chickie!”

  “But I don’t intend to leave them for long, you MONGOOSE! Do you take me for some sort of BIRD BRAIN? Did you think I, a proud ostrich, would just stick my head in the sand and not do SOMETHING to pay back what I owe? Well, let me tell you something, mister. OSTRICHES DO NOT STICK THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND. Ooh, I’m so SICK of hearing that! Is that clear? Give me a job!”

  “Very well, then,” said Uncle firmly. “I understand why you’re upset. There is something you can do, but—”

  “What do you want me to do? Just TELL me!”

  “I’m TRYING to tell you!” cried Uncle, pulling himself up to his full eleven inches. “Calm down! Thank you. Now, you may help us, but only if you stop booming and follow my orders. Is that understood? We’ll do this the meerkat way. Teamwork is the thing.”

  “Well, I—”

  “Good. That’s settled, then,” said Uncle, cutting in firmly. “And now we must hurry, so you can make yourself useful by giving us a lift over to the Tick-tocks’ territory.”

  “Aye-aye, captain,” muttered Biff, hastily folding his enormously long legs backward into the ostrich kneeling position. He turned to Sprintina, who was sitting pretty on her precious egg. “I won’t be long, dear,” he said. “Keep your head down. Any problems, just boom.”

  The Really Mads clambered aboard Biff’s broad back and they were off, watching Fledgie’s forked tail streaming in the wind in front of them.

  They reached the dreadful wire fence in double-quick time. “Are the Tick-tocks on the other side of THIS?” demanded Biff. “I’ll never get through there! What am I going to do—TUNNEL UNDER? Do you expect me to FLY over or something?”

  “Harrumph!” said Uncle. “Stay put! Remember our bargain. Keep calm and wait for orders, what-what!”

  “Quite right. Sorry. Overexcited,” said Biff.

  “He has got a point, though, Uncle!” said Little Dream.

  Uncle’s fur was spiking now. He felt quick and tricky and ready for anything. “Fledgie, when I say so, I want you to fly close to the Tick-tocks’ burrow and mimic a polecat. But wait until I give you the signal. Dreamie, I need you with me. And here’s what I want the rest of you to do…”

  Chapter 11

  “Kurra-kurra-kurra!”

  At the sound of the polecat, all four Tick-tocks came running out of the house, shouting and waving their arms.

  Immediately they froze in their tracks and slapped their hands over their mouths in amazement. They could not believe their eyes! When they looked through their wire fence and saw what was happening just a little way out into the desert, they thought at first they must be dreaming.

  Was that really a little sandman wearing a safari scarf and a bush hat? And could that really be an ostrich standing as still as… well… as a Christmas tree?

  Molly and Ajahn began to skip and dance for joy. Their astonished mama and papa tried to keep them back, but the little girl and boy had no fear. They ran through the gate and did not stop until they were up close to Biff, their eyes wide with wonder. How magnificent he looked, decorated with their very own lights and tinsel. The lost presents were hanging from him too: the tin car, the water gun, the wind-up radio, the binoculars—and the doll in the pink, sparkly dress. Suddenly the little girl was pointing and the little boy lifted his gaze up and up, following the long neck of the proud bird to the very top. And there he was treated to a sight that no Blah-blah cub in the entire Kalahari had ever seen before. It was the special golden star all covered with glass gems of many colors, held up over the ostrich-tree’s head by Mimi, the meerkat princess!

  A movement in the sand nearby suddenly drew all eyes to something that, because of all the excitement, hadn’t caught their attention before. A sandy-colored female ostrich had been sitting quite still and now, without warning, she leaped to her feet. And lying in the sand for all eyes to see was the single, precious egg that she had been sitting on.

  It gave a jolt and a judder. Then it started to rock slightly and a little piece of shell jumped away from the side of it like a piece of broken china. All the onlookers could see a bluish, transparent membrane stretched across the hole, a small window lit by the Kalahari Christmas sun. The window was pushed and poked from the inside by a tiny beak and—pop—there was the head! A struggle. “There’s a wing, look!” A nudge, a last heave, a slippery dive… and there he was—the best Christmas present that Biff and Sprintina could ever have wished for!

  All the tongues of the Blah-blahs who saw him, ticked and tocked a welcome and even the sheep and the chickens darted out to admire the newborn chickie.

  “Hooray! Happy hatchday!” called Mimi as she slid down Biff’s neck for a closer look. She put the star she’d been holding into the arms of their mini sand-Blah-blah and ran to join the crowd admiring the funny little gray blob on stilts.

  “Well, here he is at last, by all that’s brave!” muttered Uncle, bursting with pride and secretly brushing away a tear of relief as Biff, the proud father wearing all his Christmas finery, started teaching his newborn chickie how to pick up pieces of gravel. “Call me a big, old softie, but isn’t this season wonderful? Aren’t babies wonderful?”

  Then all of a sudden Fearless let out a shout and sprang high into the air as if sharp teeth had just fastened on his tail. “Oh my goodness! Babies! My babies! Defenseless, without their royal father to protect them! Wup-wup! Gather to me at once, Really Mads!” he cried.

  “Wait,” begged Mimi. “The little Blah-blahs have something for us.”

  And indeed, Molly and Ajahn were kneeling in the sand. Molly had unwound three strings of beautifully colored beads— her amandavathi—from her ankles, and she was holding them out in front of her.

  “Take them,” said Uncle. “They’re a mark of respect.” And one by one the little girl placed them around the necks of Mimi, Skeema, and Little Dream.

  “The small male has something for you,” said Little Dream, turning to Uncle.

  “Harrumph. Well… naturally!” said Fearless, who had secretly feared for a moment that he might be left out. He stood bravely in front of the little boy and lifted his noble chin. Ajahn reached down and popped a handful of grubs into his mouth. At the same time, he attached a fabulous beaded ornament in the shape of a Christmas tree to the royal radio-collar.

  Uncle let out a bubbling call that was both a shout of pleasure and also meant, “Goodbye, everyone, and good luck! Tally ho!”

  Then, much to the astonishment of the awe-struck ostriches, the sheep, the chickens, and the Tick-tocks—not to mention a newly hatched chickie—the marvelous meerkat mob gathered together in a tight bunch, waving their tails together like elegant grasses bending in the wind, as they danced a Meerkat Farewell.

  And then, like a melted dream, like a puff of wind—they were gone.

  *

  “Poor, old Uncle!” puffed Skeema as they galloped closer and closer to the burrow. “Radiant is going to be so angry!”

  “We’ve all been gone for ages! She’ll be worried sick!” added Mimi.

  “Call this being back soon, you wicked, old thing?” came the indignant voice of Radiant from above their heads. “Where were you in the night when we needed you?” Fledgie couldn’t resist finishing off with a—“tweety tweet tweet!”—or they would never have guessed it was him doing the scolding.

  “Fledgie, will you stop that mimicking by all that echoes!” wailed Uncle. “As if I haven’t had enough to worry about lately! Hurry, everyone! Hurry!”

  “We’ll all be in trouble,” panted Little Dream. “And what will Mama say?”

  They skidded to a halt in a cloud of dry dust, no more than a springbok’s pronk from the burrow entrance and they saw… not a wink, not a whisker of a meerkat mob!

  “Oh, no!” cried Uncle. “The place is deserted! Something dreadful must have happened to them! An enemy mob, perhaps! A pack of hyenas!”

  Just then, a mischievous little nose followed by a pair of ears and eyes popped out
of a nearby bolthole. “Naughty Daddy!” squeaked Trouble. “Nip-nip for you!”

  Fearless let out a gasp of relief, gathering the teeny-tiny kit in his arms, giving him a cuddle and a squeeze. “Where’s your mama, dear old boy?” he cooed. “Where are your brothers and sisters?”

  “Peepo!” squeaked Zora the Snorer, Quickpaws, and Bundle, peeking out of boltholes.

  And as Fearless rolled around with the delighted babies, their mother appeared.

  Fearless immediately began to bob and duck and make excuses. “I say! Now, look here, dear! I know exactly what you must be thinking. But, harrumph, just give me a chance to explain. You see, I didn’t mean to be absent for so long, only there was a bit of an emergency. A thieving bunch of Black-backs robbed the Tick-tocks, d’you follow me? Well, we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing, could we? Had to get on their trail, track them across unknown territory. That got us into some shocking scrapes. Why, we had to…”

  The kits began to chip in eagerly, all talking at once:

  “… dodge a charging square-lipped rhino and her giant baby!”

  “… help a lost ostrich find his mate!”

  “… and rescue their very last chickie!”

  “… have a huge battle with the jackals!”

  “… and take back the shiny treasure they stole!”

  “… and bring everything back to where the Tick-tocks live.”

  Radiant put her arms around Fearless and gave him—not a nip, not a yell, but only a long and loving lick. “As long as you all enjoyed yourselves, you and these young kits!” she said cheerfully. “How could I be angry? Especially,” she went on, admiring the beaded ornament that dangled from Fearless’s collar, “when you’ve brought back something nice for Fragrant’s newborns to chew on!”

  “Newborns?” yelled the kits.

  “You mean we’ve got more brothers and sisters?” squealed Dreamie. “Whee!”