Little Rimmer - Chapter Two

Soon Rimmer found himself winding down a long country lane. He was feeling a little sorry for himself and hung his head low, mainly due to the fact that he was a bit soggy and needed to drip dry. He sort of meandered down the lane, kicking little pebbles that he found in his track. At one point in the road, things started getting a bit muddy and wet, and Rimmer could feel the dirt starting to seep into the very fabric of his being. It was going a little bit crusty just around knee height, and it felt like his feet were growing more and more heavy as he just tried to keep going. It had begun to grow dark by now, and he was worried that he would have to crawl under some brambles just to find shelter for the night. He rather didn’t relish this thought, and even though his feet were getting heavy with mud, he still plodded on. Rimmer started thinking about the sweet comforting fragrance of his loving mother and started to grow very homesick indeed!

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse, and Rimmer was very close to giving up and just lying in the middle of the country lane until a bird thought he was good enough to eat and carried him off. But before he had lost all hope, Rimmer noticed a kind of excited sound coming from up ahead. He pricked up his ears, and strained to see if he could make out some kind of words. His pace gathered speed. He grew curious. What was this odd chattering noise and where was it coming from? Rimmer was almost running now, as the noise was growing steadily louder, and he had just about forgotten that his paws were caked in mud and feeling heavy. Before he knew it, Rimmer was peering through a wooden gate at the most amazing scene he had ever seen! That was quite a good thing considering that the reason he had left home was to see what he could see. He crawled under the gate, getting a little more muddy in the process, and took a few steps up a little driveway. The driveway led to a big cottage that overlooked a glorious field. There were a few ponies sticking their heads over the fence, and Rimmer just stood in awe of these creatures. He had certainly never seen anything that large before, nor as beautiful! He just wanted to take it all in, and not forget one little bit. The cottage had a thatched roof, and what looked like a mixture of different flowers entwined all the way up the facade of the house! One of the windows on the top floor was open, and there was a girl leaning out of the window, smelling one of the flowers! At the front of the house, there was a cluster of strange looking animals all different in shapes and sizes. Rimmer had never seen anything so wonderful, nor frightening. The noise was quite loud now and he was getting a little overwhelmed.

‘Um, excuse me!’ he cried, trying to be heard above the din, ‘Hello! Can anyone hear me?’
Nothing happened. Well, almost nothing, because at that moment, a large black and white creature with its tongue hanging out of its mouth ran at speed from one side of the front garden right to where Rimmer was standing. ‘Woof!’ it barked, and put its head low to the ground, peering at Rimmer who was now petrified. He didn’t know what to make of this monster whose breath was making him feel a little queasy. He was absolutely terrified and didn’t know what to do, so he did nothing. It felt like ages before anything happened, but Rimmer couldn’t risk making a noise. That is, until there was a high pitched whistle from nowhere. The dog barked again, picked Rimmer up in its mouth no less, and ran off!
‘Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!’ cried Rimmer, ‘Help! Get off!’, as he found himself upside down and travelling at quite a speed to an undisclosed location. He did not stop screaming. In fact, not only was he thinking that his adventure was getting quite dangerous and feared that he would make it through alive, but he was feeling even more soggy and homesick as a result!

Rimmer must have blacked out, because when he awoke, he was no longer in the dog’s mouth, thank goodness! Instead he found himself in a large space. He thought he was inside, but he couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t like any inside that he had ever seen before. There were yellowish blocks all over the place, and when he sat up he noticed that he was in fact sitting on some of the same yellowish stuff that was in the rest of the place.
‘Ooooh! My head!’ he cried, and clutched a muddy paw to his forehead. He patted himself all over just to make sure none of his insides had come out, and thankfully couldn’t find anything to write home about, certainly nothing to worry his dear mum about. He was, however, feeling a little loose around the edges and now even sorrier for himself than before. Could this day get any worse? He wondered.

‘There, there, little one! It will all come out alright in the wash!’ For a moment, Rimmer thought someone was speaking to him, and breathed a sigh of relief. But when he looked up, he saw a fluffy creature with very big soft arms ushering a little fluffy creature into the shed.
‘Are you speaking to me?’ Rimmer asked.
‘Oh! I didn’t see you there, little one.’ The chicken waddled up to Rimmer and bent down to take a closer look, ‘Francis, you go and play with your brothers and sisters,’ she commanded, as she turned her attention to Rimmer. ‘What are you, dearie?’ she asked with a puzzled expression.
‘What am I? What are you, madam?’ said Rimmer, hoping that she was indeed a madam, ‘I mean, I’ve never seen so many strange creatures before in my short yet eventful life!’
‘Ah, dearie. I won’t take offence at your tone, because I can see by that question that you are new to the world, and as a result are in need of a bit of an explanation.’ She clearly began to feel sorry for the little bear, even from only having exchanged a few words with him, and Rimmer was both taken aback by the intelligence of her answer and the softness in her voice.
‘Oh dear, I’m so sorry, madam. I’ve had such a rubbish day. My head hurts and I’m all soggy and I don’t know where on earth I am! I’m far from home and my adventure is turning into a bit of a disaster. Can you help me at all?’ He looked up at her with imploring eyes, at which point her heart melted and she extended her wing around the little bear’s shoulders.
Rimmer got up and leant in close to the chicken, letting her lead the way.
‘Of course I can help, dearie. Let me begin by introducing myself. I’m Henrietta, and these,’ she said proudly, pointing to a mass of squabbling little chicks, ‘are my children.’
‘Oh my! All of them?’ asked Rimmer, both comforted by the soft downy feathers protecting him, and excited by the cheery rabble he saw before him. There were so many chicks running around that he could hardly count them!
‘Well, not strictly, but they are certainly in my charge and I do my best by them.’ She said, leading Rimmer to what looked like a pool of water.
‘Oh no! You’re not going to throw me in there, are you?’ he protested and hid himself further under Henrietta’s wing.
‘Now, now, little one, don’t be afraid, we’re only going to clean you up a bit to see what you are!’ she said, and with that, gently guided him into the pool. It was surprisingly warm, and not that uncomfortable to be wading about in the water.

As Henrietta fussed over him, making sure he cleaned behind his ears, and pointing out all the spots he had missed, and helpfully splashing him with water, Rimmer recounted the story of earlier that day when he had met the frog. He told her how the frog bounced up and down and up and down, and how he tried to bounce but to no avail. He even told Henrietta of the strange thing that he saw when he looked in the reflection of the frog in the stream. Henrietta made all the right sounds, ooo-ing and ah-ing at all the important places. Rimmer thought how lovely it was to have someone to talk to; it was almost like being back at home. As he scrubbed, and talked, and talked and scrubbed, he started to feel both happy and sad at the same time. The memories of the day were starting to take on a different hue as he recounted the tale to Henrietta, almost heroic and noble. But Rimmer wished that it was his own mother that he was recounting the tales to, so that she could say how proud she was of him. But Henrietta only smiled, and ushered him forth out of the pool and told him to give a good shake so the extra water would drip off. She told him to squeeze his limbs a little just in case any water still remained in there, and she drew him in close to her, rubbing his back with her wing till he was cosy and tight and safe and starting to get warm and dry.

‘Now, let’s have a look at you,’ Henrietta said, taking a step back. She drew in a quick, sharp breath, ‘Oh my!’
Rimmer stood there looking up at her expectantly. What had gone wrong now? He was almost sure that he had either done something wrong, or that he looked terribly strange and that it would frighten the lady.
‘Oh my, my, my!’ Henrietta muttered, almost in disbelief, ‘Whoever knew you were such a.. Well, well, I’ve got to tell Dotty, she’ll be ever so… mmm Dotty!’ Henrietta started flapping about and getting so worked up that Rimmer didn’t know what to make of it. He wasn’t sure whether her reaction was good or bad. Why was she getting so excited?
‘Henrietta, are you alright? I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?’ he asked.
‘What?’ she asked, spinning around so quickly she almost knocked him off his feet, ‘oh, my dear little one, whoever said anything about doing wrong? No, no, no, no! Everything is far too exciting for that! Oh dear, where do I start? I think I had better let Dotty explain everything…’