Emmott and Emily's rainy day adventure

             “I love it when it rains.” Emily exclaimed in delight. Her brother Emmott was whooping it up, running and sliding thru the puddles. He dashed close by Emily, sending a large plume of water her way. 

            “I love the rain.” He shouted.

            “ I just said that silly.” She yelled over the noise he was making. 

            “Oh, I didn’t hear you but I sure agree.” Emmott laughed. He ran at Emily and straightening his body and chest bumped her. Emily started making booming sounds deep in her throat and copied what her brother had just done. She hit him slightly off center and they both spun in a circle. They circled each other then entwined their necks affectionately. They danced together, spinning and coming together, breaking apart over and over again. 

             The animals hiding in the barn watched them, part in affection and part envy.

             “Those two emus are going to catch a cold if they don’t come out of the rain.” Clara mooed loudly trying to get their attention.

               “Oh leave them be, they’ll be fine. Your starting to sound like a mother hen.” Stanley the steer grunted.

                “Well someone needs to watch over them since their parents aren’t here.” Clara huffed.

                 “I think we should join them Greta.” Georgie the goat said to his older sister.

                  “You know I hate to get wet Georgie, so I’m not going outside.” Greta said.

                  “Sissy! I’ll go by myself” Georgie spouted as he ran out into the rain. Greta just smirked and started counting;

                    “one, two, three….” They all heard a shriek, then Georgie came rushing back into the barn and dove into the hay, startling the chickens and ducks who were sleeping. 

                  “I don’t like the rain.” He grumbled. Then Bruno jumped up and started barking,

                   “Go back to sleep Bruno, it was just Georgie.” Clara assured the old dog.

                Outside Emmott and Emily were still cavorting in the rain, they didn’t hear the farmer drive up to the gate of the pasture and he didn’t see Emmott or Emily out in the field. He opened the gate and drove thru, but since it was raining so hard he didn’t bother getting out again to close the gate. He was sure the animals would all be in the barn staying warm and dry.  It wasn’t until the farmer parked next to the barn that Emmott noticed him, he also noticed that the gate was left open.

              “Look Emily, the farmer left the gate open.” Emmott exclaimed.

               “So, I don’t care I just want to play in the rain.” 

               “Oh, come on Em, let’s go on a journey, lets have an adventure. Aren’t you tired of this old farm.” “I want to explore, meet new people, play in more puddles.” Emmott teased his sister.

                 “Well I do love playing and dancing in the puddles.” Emily laughed. “but I don’t think I’m okay with going on a journey.”

                   “Okay we’ll just go play in the puddles down the street, Is that okay with you?” Emmott grumbled.

                 “What about the farmer, he’ll be upset if we leave.” Emily worried.

                  “Emily! Please don’t be such a coward, lets live a little.”

                    Not wanting to be thought of as a coward, Emily reluctantly agreed to go with him. They snuck out the gate together and headed down the road. Not to far from their field they came to a big puddle, it was wide and deep. Looking at each other in anticipation they jumped in. Emmott kept jumping up and down and Emily laid down in the middle and started rolling around. Totally drenched she sat up and looked for Emmott, but he was already running to the next puddle. Emily glanced quickly at her field, then ran after Emmott. 

                   The emus play and danced thru puddle after puddle for over an hour, until Emily’s belly decided to interrupt them with a loud growl.

                   Giggling she said, “My stomache says it’s time to eat.”

                    “Ya, I’m hungry too, we missed our morning meal. That was probably why the farmer was in the field today.” Emmott drawled trying to shake the water from his feathers. It was no use though because the rain was still coming down.

                  “Where are we Emmott? Nothing looks familiar.” Emily uttered shakily. Emmott eyes searched the area for anything he remembered. He saw nothing he knew. Emily stood shaking, she was cold and also worried, they weren't suppose to get far from the field.  Emmott noticed his sisters misgivings. So he did what he did best, he took charge, come on Em lets find our way home. Together they walked, barely glancing at the puddles now.

                “Look Em, see that circle thing on that building. It looks like those treats the farmer fed us last week, lets go.” Emmott started walking in that direction with Emily following behind. They came to an area with several buildings, there were a few humans trudging around too but nobody seemed to notice them probably because of the rain.  They walked up to the building with the circle food on it, just as a human opened the door with a big bag that smelled wonderful.  Emmott and Emily started prancing around the human. They would leapt in close and lightly peck the bag then jump back, the human jumped too but he jumped against the wall and froze there. 

               “What is wrong with this human, why won’t he give us a treat?” Emily asked her brother. We are being polite like the farmer told us to be. Frustated Emmott jumped forward again, but this time he pecked the bag with more force tearing a hole in it. The bagels fell the the ground and Emmott and Emily started devouring them. They didn’t notice the human run back into the store until he and others came out with brooms. One swung his broom forcibly almost connecting with Emmott’s head, surprised at their actions Emmott and Emily jumped back. But the humans kept advancing trying to hit them with the brooms. Frightened Emmott and Emily turned and ran, the humans chased for a little while but the emus quickly lost them. Emus are very fast when they want to be they can run up to 30 miles per hour.

                Emmott and Emily ran until they didn’t see anymore buildings or humans, they were tired and cold and still hungry. Finally they came to an area with a long fences around a big area and behind it were several pens.  They noticed some emus in one of the pens, Emily boomed a loud greeting as they ran toward the pen. 

               “Hello, can you help us? We are trying to find our way home.” She rambled excitedly. A large male emu strolled over to the fence,

                “What are you doing outside?” he asked.

                “ We are trying to find our way home.” Emmott answered.

                 “What nonsense is that, we emus live here at the zoo! You had better get back inside your enclosure before the zookeepers see you” he grunted at them.

                  “We don’t live here, we live with the farmer, Clara the cow, Stanley the steer, Greta and Georgie they are goats, and the chickens and ducks we have a nice field that is our home.” Emily told him proudly.

                   Don’t forget Bruno, hes the old hound dog.” Emmott piped in.

 The other emus had gathered at the fence while Emmott and Emily spoke to the large male. There were gasps and shocked exclamations, after Emily had finished speaking.

                “You cohabitate with other species!, Then you certainly don’t belong here.” The large male grumbled contemptuously. There was some grunting and soft booming coming from the other emus. The male turned to them one last time.

                  “The zookeepers are coming, you better leave now.” With that they all turned their backs on Emmott and Emily, and walked to the other end of their enclosure.

                  Emmott looked to the north side of the fences, several humans were running their way and they were carrying long sticks with loops on the ends. 

                “Oh no Emily, it’s happening again, the humans are after us.” Emmott cried out. Frightened they both ran as fast as they could into a copse of trees. They quietly walked thru the trees listening for the humans, when the didn’t hear any they relaxed. Emily started nibbling on the grass that was shooting up between her clawed toes. 

               “I’m sorry Em, I only wanted a short journey to see some new things. This has turned into a huge misadventure.

               “It’s alright Emmott everything will be fine once we get home.” Emily told him hopefully. If we get home Emmott thought, He never heard the zookeepers creep up behind them.

                Caught unawares one of the humans got a rope around Emmotts neck.

               “Run Emily” he squawked as the rope tighten. Emily narrowly missed the rope intended for her when Emmott cried out, she jumped clear of the humans and looked back at her brother. The humans were trying to push him to the ground but he was fighting valiantly, but their were to many for him. Emily charged into the middle of the humans, leaping past them to get to her brother. As she leapted she kicked out at those nearest to her, three of them fell to the ground holding their wounded appendages. That left two, with the tension lessoned on the rope Emmott was able to join the fray and in no time at all he was free and brother and sister escaped deeper into the trees.        

              “You know I really miss the field, I miss our friends and the farmer.” Emily sighed as she slowly trudged forward.

               “I do too Em, I don’t know why I thought I needed to go on an adventure.” Emmott choked back a sob.  Emily moved close to her brother leaning into for warmth and comfort. Slowly they walked thru the trees and they came out on a road, it was a dirt road with lots of puddles. Thinking it was a little familiar they decided to follow it, They wandered down the road haltingly. The rain had relented but the sky was getting darker, they had been gone all day and despair was dragging them down. Suddenly Emily perked up.

        “Did you hear that” She whispered.

        “Hear what?” Emmott asked cocking his head to the side. 

        “Emmott, Emily, where are you?”

         “The Farmer!” they shouted. As they took off running toward his voice. They ran around the bend of the road and there was the farmer, standing on the hood of his truck calling for them. Emily boomed when she saw him. When he heard her he jumped off his truck and ran to them. When they got to him he threw his arms around their necks and gave them a big hug.

          “Oh you naughty emus, I have been searching for you all day, come lets go home.” He led them to the back of his truck and they jumped in. They snuggled down into the straw he’d laid down for them. Giving them another pat he climbed into the front of his truck and drove them home. The son was waiting at the gate, he opened it for his father to drive thru then closed it and ran to the barn to check on Emmott and Emily. All the animals were excited that the emus were home, Clara scolded them, Stanley said welcome back and Gregory and Greta wouldn’t stop telling them how worried they had been. Even Bruno woke up long enough to tell them he was happy they were home.

          The farmer and his son gave Emmott and Emily another hug and a scoop of grain then they left to go to their house but only after making sure the gate was securely fastened.

          “They didn’t need to do that.” Emmott sighed from his comfortable bed of straw.

          “Why” Emily asked sharply afraid her brother was thinking of sneaking out again.

           “Because I realize now that I don’t need to go on a journey to have an adventure, I can do that right here with you and all my friends and the humans that care for us, everyday can be an adventure.” Emmott mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.  Smiling Emily followed the example of her big brother and went to sleep.