The Search for Shiny Things: Part 12

"There it goes," said the teddy and looked down into the hole. Falling was really the same thing as jumping, for a plushie. There was a weak echoing sound of something very soft landing on something very hard, then silence.

"Should you go down and help?" asked the squirrel.

"Perhaps it would be better to get it back up," said the teddy. "See if you can find rope on the boat, and we will make a ladder and put it down the hole." The teddy cleared its throat. "Dearest greyhound, are you alive?"

A whining noise came from deep down the hole.

"You brought the matches, did you not? Why not find your friends with the matches, and we shall make a ladder so you all can get back up."

A tiny little flame flickered into existence as the greyhound lit the first match. "Oh no, oh no," it said. "I can't, I can't."

"Of course you can," the teddy said. "And you're already down the hole."

There was another whining noise, and the little flame wandered away out of sight. The teddy stayed, and over the next few minutes while the squirrel found rope and an instruction booklet for how to tie rope ladders, listened carefully. For a while there was nothing, then there was some screaming a few times; each time made the squirrel wince and look up from its work. Then came a very loud scream, that soon changed into laughing, and more voices joining in laughing. And for the next while, more screaming and laughing and howling and shrieking. The squirrel finished the rope ladder, and with the help of the teddy, tied it firmly to the boat and sent it down the hole.

"The ladder is ready," called the teddy.

"Soon, soon," called the greyhound back.

They waited patiently, perhaps in the squirrel's case not quite so patiently, and eventually the greyhound came back up, followed by a parade of plushie animals in identical soldier caps. Chatting and laughing, the group greeted the two.

"Were you very scared?" asked the squirrel.

"Very," said the greyhound, "but it turns out being frightened when there is no danger is a lot of fun. All that screaming and jumping gets my stuffing fluffed."

The biggest plushie, a somewhat crookedly sewn snake, studied the rope ladder closely. "I dare say," it said, "that this rope ladder shows excellent character. Who made this?"

"I did!" exclaimed the squirrel, whiskers quivering.

"It did," the teddy confirmed; the teddy had in fact not lifted a paw to help.

"Would you like to be trained as soldier?" asked the plushie snake.

"But you are all plushies," said the squirrel doubtfully. "Can I really be a soldier?"

"We shall find out, if you'd like to try."

So it was decided. The greyhound cooked dinner, and was as the hero of the hole rewarded with the best serving, and the squirrel and the teddy got second and third. While they ate, all huddled on the ground by the boat, the plushie snake taught the squirrel to weave a wreath of twigs and leaves.

Although the food was good and the company excellent, the teddy figured it should continue on its way. The squirrel bequeathed it with the newly made wreath, and the greyhound handed over a box of matches. "Although the method was drastic, I must thank you for pushing me into the hole," the greyhound said. "Without you I would never have discovered how much fun it is to be frightened!"

"Teddies are crazy," said the squirrel.

"I helped," said the teddy indignantly.

The teddy thanked for the meal and invited them all to come to the teddy and the moth's white and drab house, after asking them about trees and shiny decorations, of which the soldiers knew nothing. And so it went on with its search.