Short Story: Lost and found

“Paddywhack, Paddywhack, wake up, I’ve got something to show you!

”Paddywhack, a large green and brown splotchy bull frog, opened one eye, yawned and said sleepily, “well it had better be something special Gershwin, I was dreaming about a very pretty princess!”

Gershwin, a gray and black spangled grass snake hissed, “it is! come on Paddywhack, hurry up, someone else may find it and steal it away from us!”

The two friends moved swiftly along the soft grassy floor of Pennyworth forest, home to an assortment of animals.

Jellico was a red and black lady bug.  Bomber was a friendly little bumble bee, who loved to play hide and seek amongst the daffodils. Holloway flea was the strict school master, Quintus rabbit ran the local crèche, ably assisted by Miss Pansy cricket and Princess Cassandra ruled the butterfly kingdom. Which left only Twitsie mole, whom no one ever saw, save for a large lump of excavated soil in the middle of a clearing.

Paddywhack was the local sheriff and Gershwin, the pompous post master.

This was a close knit community of forest dwellers who lived an orderly life, one in which anything of note rarely happened, which was why Paddywhack found it strange that his friend had sounded so excited about his find.

“Here we are Paddywhack. Look!” Paddywhack looked down at the ground and spied a ring. But, this was no ordinary ring, for as the sun shone down upon it, the ring gave off the most beautiful prisms of rainbow coloured sparks.

Paddywhack stood speechless. “Gershwin, what have we here?” demanded Jellico. Paddywhack jumped a mile.  He turned around to find that the entire population had followed them into the clearing.

“Jellico, this is a crime scene and you shouldn’t be here! Now, all of you step back and give me room to investigate!”

The gathered spectators shuffled back a centimetre or so, craning their necks for a better view.

Paddywhack peered closely at the ring. He stretched out one webbed toe and prodded the circlet which didn’t budge; it was embedded firmly in the mossy floor of the forest.

“Quintus, please be a good rabbit and hop back to your classroom and fetch me a magnifying glass, I need one to do a thorough inspection.”

Quintus hurried away, and soon his fluff ball of a white tail had disappeared amongst the foliage.

The watching crowd began to talk amongst themselves. “Holloway, where do you suppose it came from?” Cassandra asked. “It is so beautiful!”

Holloway flea blushed bright red. Never before had the beautiful Princess Cassandra even so much as glanced his way, let alone speak to him!

Jellico chimed in, “I am sure that you are right Holloway, you always are”, she simpered, trying desperately to attract the handsome Holloway’s attention away from the alluring Cassandra.

He cleared his throat. “I am not sure Ca…, Ca…, Cassandra, he stuttered, perhaps humans dropped it here while they were out for a walk?”

Bomber bee cautiously flew out from behind a flower to take a closer look while Jellico was occupied.

Too late! “Bomber, where have you been hiding? Please fly back to my house and bring me my sun shade! I fear the sun will quite ruin my complexion,” she finished, glancing coyly at Holloway.

As the disgruntled Bomber set off on his mission, Horatio re-appeared, carrying a magnifying glass between his large white teeth.

“Here you are Paddywhack, will this one do?”

Smiling his thanks, Paddywhack took the magnifying glass from him and peered through the thick glass at the ring. It sprang into sharp relief and Paddywhack yelled. “Hold on a moment, I can see something written on the inside of the band!

“What, chorused the gathered spectators, please tell us?

“It looks like a D and then an A, followed by a P and an H.

“Daphne, shouted everyone in chorus, it spells Daphne!”

“Quiet everyone! Jellico ordered sharply. Listen, did you hear that?” The gathered onlookers listened intently.

“Quickly”, ordered Paddywhack, hide!” The animals scampered, slithered and flew into hiding.

Into the clearing walked a young man and woman. The girl was clutching her companion’s arm tightly and it was evident that she had been crying.

“Daphne, darling, please don’t blame yourself.  How could we have known that the ring would slip from your finger while we were having such a lovely picnic in the forest yesterday?”

“But Daniel, I loved my ring and you saved and saved to get me just the one that I wanted.

We will never be able to replace it she sobbed brokenly. It has to be here somewhere, it just has to be!”

Paddywhack caught Gershwin’s eye and mouthed, “What are we going to do?” He hopped ever so quietly over to where his friend lay almost invisible in the grass.

“If you slither over to where the ring is lying, they will get a fright. If I hop over, I am sure that the young lady would run a mile! Not everyone sees us as princes in disguise.”

“Holloway flea is too small, Lady Bug and Bumble Bee would not really grab their attention.

Quintus might, being a bunny rabbit, but would he sit still long enough? You know how he bounces up and down.”

“I think our best bet would be Princess Cassandra, Quintus said in a hushed voice.  She is lovely and I am sure that the humans would follow her to the ring. She could land on it and draw their eyes down to where the ring is lying.”

Princess Cassandra had been sitting on a leaf above their heads listening intently and now she said dramatically, “I agree, it has to be me, I will rescue the day!” and with that, she flew off after the humans.

Cassandra fluttered her gossamer wings just in front of Daphne’s nose and Daphne exclaimed, “Oh, look Daniel, what a lovely butterfly, let’s follow it for a while!”

Daniel was only too happy to do so.  He was glad that something had caught his distraught fiancé’s attention.

With only a few wing beats, Princess Cassandra reached the spot where the ring was laying half buried in the soil. She dropped daintily down and perched upon the golden band.

Daphne, who was following close behind, bent down to get a better look at Princess Cassandra when, with a tiny shriek she cried, “Daniel, my ring!”

Daniel bent down, pulled the ring loose from the soil, polished it on his shirt front and dropping to one knee said earnestly, “Daphne, will you marry me, again?”

Her delighted laughter caused the birds in the trees to take to the air in a flurry of feathers. “I will Daniel, of course I will!”

Cassandra flew over to where her forest family remained hidden from sight and said proudly,

“Mission accomplished Paddywhack!”

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